Even Heroes Have the Right to Bleed
by VoicesOffCamera
Summary: Darry knew that he wouldn't sleep well again until he managed to fix this. And he hoped desperately that he would be able to find a way to fix this. There just had to be a way to make this better. And he was going to find it, no matter how long it took. He was going to bring his brothers home.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **Hey guys! So here we go, yet another Outsiders story from me, haha. If you're familiar with my other stories just know this one will be very different than any of the others that I've written. I'm trying to get away from the Vietnam theme that I've been stuck on, at least a bit so it doesn't become too redundant, though I will still be working on the one that I just posted this past weekend. And you can expect regular updates with this story each week.

Now be forewarned, I'm going to be playing with some time jumps in this story. I'm going to do my best to make it as clear as possible where we are in the story though, so make sure to take note of any bolded indications of time at the beginning of different sections. If it works out like I think it will work out in my head hopefully it'll make the story that much more interesting as you find out what happens and the go back and figure out what led to that.

Anyway, I like to jump right into the action, so expect some excitement in this chapter. Please remember to review and let me know what you think!

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**Chapter One**

Darrel Curtis stood in the doorway of his younger brothers' bedroom, leaning up against the doorframe with his hands shoved in his pockets. He stared at the empty bed with the blankets skewed and falling to the floor. He was having a hard time getting his head around how everything had fallen apart so quickly. They were just beginning to put their lives back together and then suddenly everything had gone downhill in an instant. He rubbed his eyes tiredly. He knew that he wouldn't sleep well again until he managed to fix this. And he hoped desperately that he would be able to find a way to fix this. There just had to be a way to make this better. And he was going to find it, no matter how long it took. He was going to bring his brothers home.

XxXxX

_**Friday, September 23**_

_**(Three weeks earlier)**_

"Let's go, you two are gonna be late," Darry called for the third time as he walked into Soda and Pony's room. Soda moaned loudly as he pulled the covers over his head while Pony blinked sleepily, appearing to at least make an effort to wake up. Darry leaned over them and shook them both. "C'mon, get up."

He stood there waiting as Pony slowly rolled out of bed, yawning loudly as he made his way out of the room.

"Just five more minutes," Soda mumbled from under the covers.

"I gave you five more minutes twenty minutes ago," Darry pointed out. He reached over and pulled back the covers, getting impatient. If they didn't get going soon, he was going to be late too. "C'mon, get up."

Soda sighed as he slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. "Alright, alright," he muttered, sounding a bit moody. Darry realized his tone had been a bit harsher than he had meant it to be, but he was too tired to really care about that right now.

"Maybe it'd be easier to get up for work if you weren't out so late with Steve last night," Darry pointed out, annoyed. "You let the door slam when you came in last night too. Woke me up."

"Sorry," Soda said, not sounding very sorry at all as he climbed out of bed, letting the blankets fall to the floor as he did so. "But I haven't been out for a while and I actually wanted to have some fun. I don't want to turn into you, just workin' all the time with no social life."

Darry just watched as Soda stalked from the room. He sighed. He knew that Soda could be cranky when he didn't get enough sleep. He had been taking more hours at work the past month to help pay off Pony's hospital bills. It was hard to believe it had already been a month since Pony and Johnny had run away for a week after getting caught up in the murder of a Soc. It was still hard to believe that Dally and Johnny were really gone for good. They were all still trying to get over it.

Darry shook himself out of his thoughts as he headed back out of the room and into the kitchen. He already had breakfast on the table by the time Pony wandered in, already dressed for school and still looking sleepy. Darry watched him carefully as he sat down at the table and began picking at his breakfast. He was still concerned with how skinny he looked. He had lost a lot of weight during the week he had run away and continued losing weight even afterwards when he was trying to deal with the aftermath of what had happened. He had finally begun to gain some of it back, but not as much as Darry had been hoping. Overall Pony had come a long way since that awful week, but Darry knew he still had a ways to go and he was still keeping a close eye on him.

Suddenly there was a honk from outside. It was probably Steve and Two-Bit here to pick up both Pony and Soda. They would drop Soda off at work before they headed to school, just like most other days when Soda was running too late to walk to work.

"Finish your breakfast, Soda's not even ready yet," Darry said as Pony started to get up from his only half eaten plate.

Pony lowered himself back down and went back to pushing his food around his plate. "Were you and Soda fightin' this morning?" he asked, looking up at Darry curiously.

Darry sighed. "He's just tired 'cause he didn't get in till late last night," he said. Pony looked back down at his plate but Darry was surprised to see that he was smiling. "What?" he asked, confused.

"You and Soda never fight," Pony said. He smiled lightly at up Darry. "It's just nice that it's not me for once."

Darry rolled his eyes at him. At least one of his brothers was in a good mood this morning though. The honk from outside came again and Darry could hear Soda hurrying down the hall.

"You ready, Pony?" Soda called.

Pony was up from the table in a second, hurrying after Soda. Darry eyed Pony's plate with disapproval, he had barely eaten half of his breakfast, but he did his best to brush it off. He knew that Pony ate well for dinner and he did his best to leave it at that. He'd just make a big dinner tonight. He also tried not to worry about Soda not having any breakfast, figuring he'd grab something when he got to work.

Darry quickly cleaned up breakfast, just tossing the dirty dishes in the sink to deal with later, before gathering his things and heading out to his truck. As he glanced at his watch he was relieved to find that he was only running a few minutes late, which would be easy to make up as he drove. By the time he made it to the work site he was stepping out of the truck right on time.

"Mornin' Curtis."

"Hey Cooper," Darry said, nodding at one of his coworkers who was getting out of the car next to his.

James Cooper looked up at the house they had been working on for the past few days. "Looks like we got a good rain last night," he commented. "Looks pretty slick up there."

Darry looked up at the roof, seeing that he was right. By the looks of the pools of water in the tarps it seemed like they had gotten a pretty good rainstorm last night. Darry must have slept right through it.

"Yeah, looks like," Darry agreed.

James looked at him curiously. "You look pretty tired," he said.

Darry sighed. "One of my kid brothers came in pretty late last night," he said by way of explanation.

James laughed. "Kids, huh?"

Darry chuckled. "Yeah, no kidding."

They both headed for the house where most of the other workers were already gathered, talking and finishing coffees before work officially started. Soon enough the site manager was ushering everyone up the ladders while a few stragglers were running up. Darry grabbed a bundle of roofing before heading up the ladder with everyone else. They carefully removed the tarps, dumping the water down to the ground before they began working.

The morning was uneventful. Everyone had to go slower than usual and a few guys stumbled a bit due to the wet conditions, but nothing too exciting. Darry was just glad that the rain had brought around some cooler weather. Yesterday the sun had been beating down hard on them, but today was actually pretty comfortable.

Even though Darry was one of the youngest roofers on this particular job, he was noticing more and more how immature some of the other guys acted at times. They liked to horse around and play pranks on each other, which didn't appeal much to Darry. He mostly kept to himself, working in his own area and getting more done than most.

He had long ago stopped paying attention to what the other roofers were doing and was thinking about Soda. He felt bad for giving him a hard time this morning. He hadn't asked Soda to take more hours to help with Pony's hospital bills, he had done that on his own and it had helped out immensely. Darry was grateful for that. And Darry certainly didn't want his life for either of his brothers. He didn't want them working themselves ragged at two jobs in order to make ends meet.

Darry was so deep in thought about this that he didn't even realize what was going on around him. One of his coworkers had taken a handful of water from one of the tarps that they had left in place and was throwing it at other coworkers. They were laughing and joking loudly.

"Curtis, watch out!"

Darry was standing up in order to get more roofing and turned just in time to see Hank Thomas laughing as he walked backwards, unaware that Darry had been crouched behind him as he worked. He had no time to react as Hank ran right into him, knocking him off balance. He immediately slid backwards on the part of the roof that didn't have shingles yet and there was nothing he could do to stop himself. He felt himself hit the gutter before he was flung out into empty space. He felt air rushing past him and suddenly there was a sharp cracking noise and everything went black.

XxXxX

The first thing that Darry was aware of was a vague beeping noise. His entire body felt heavy and all he wanted to do was sleep. After some more time had passed and sleep would not come Darry slowly blinked his eyes open. It took a minute for the scene in front of him to come into focus. He was confused. This wasn't his bedroom. He looked around at plain white walls. There were tubes coming out of his arm. There were wires crossing his chest. He couldn't even begin to fathom was what going on.

He shifted a bit but found that he didn't have the energy to even think about getting out of bed. So he just lay there, hoping someone would show up soon so he could find out what was going on.

It was only a few minutes later when Darry was aware of someone entering the room. He slowly turned his head and immediately recognized Steve and Two-Bit walking in, deep in some kind of hushed conversation that he couldn't quite make out. They hardly even looked at him as they walked into the room. Darry felt a wave of relief upon seeing them though. It was good to see something familiar.

"Hey guys," Darry croaked, finding that his throat was dry and his voice caught in his throat.

The reaction was immediate. Steve and Two-Bit both whipped their heads around to look at him, mirrored expressions of shock on their faces. They froze for a moment before Two-Bit turned and sprinted from the room. Darry felt confused by this reaction, but before he could question it Two-Bit came back into the room with a woman in scrubs in tow. Darry was finally starting to understand that he was in the hospital.

"You're awake!" the nurse exclaimed. She quickly began checking him over, checking his heartbeat, taking his blood pressure, shining a light into his eyes. Steve and Two-Bit were both standing back a little bit, looking like they had seen a ghost. The whole thing made Darry feel uneasy. The nurse turned back to address them. "He's stable," she told them. "I'll tell the doctor and he should be in soon." Then she left just as quickly as she had come.

Darry turned his gaze to Steve and Two-Bit, wanting answers. "What happened?" he asked.

Two-Bit stepped forward, carefully approaching the bed with Steve close behind him. "You fell," Two-Bit said slowly. "You fell off the roof of a house and hit your head. Don't you remember?"

Darry thought hard for a moment. He had some hazy memories of falling, but he couldn't really grasp the circumstances. He was beginning to get a pounding headache and he wished the light in the room wasn't so bright.

"Kinda," Darry finally answered. He looked back up at the two friends at his bedside as something slowly dawned on him. "Where're Soda and Pony?" he asked. It seemed strange that neither of them were there if Steve and Two-Bit were. There was silence following the question as Two-Bit shifted uncomfortably and shared a glance with Steve. Darry felt even more uneasy at this. Suddenly he was getting the feeling that something was very wrong.

"We… don't know where they are," Steve finally said reluctantly, shoving his hands in his pockets and not meeting Darry's eyes.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Darry demanded, a hint of panic in his voice.

Two-Bit sighed and dropped into a chair next to Darry's bed, suddenly looking defeated. "We tried to stop them," he said quietly, looking down at his shoes. "But there wasn't anythin' we could do, Darry. Honest."

"What are you talkin' about, Two-Bit?" Darry said, getting impatient for an actual explanation. "Where are my brothers?"

Two-Bit finally looked up at him, sadness in his eyes. "The state came and took them away," he finally said flatly.

Darry felt his breath catch in his chest. After everything they had gone through in order to stay together they couldn't just be gone. "How long ago?" Darry asked quickly. Maybe it wasn't long ago; maybe he could still get them back.

Two-Bit bit his lip uncomfortably and looked up at Steve who was still standing behind him. It was Steve who spoke up this time. "About a week ago," he said flatly. He paused, as if counting in his head. "A week and three days ago," he corrected.

This bit of news hit Darry hard. His mind was reeling, hardly able to comprehend this information. Suddenly he realized he had no idea how much time had passed. "How…?" Darry said, unable to complete his thought.

"Darry, you've been unconscious for a while," Two-Bit said slowly. "Your accident was almost two weeks ago."

Darry felt himself pale and he felt sick. Almost two weeks had gone by?

"They wouldn't even tell us where they were takin' them," Steve said, bitterness clear in his voice.

"They didn't leave your side for about three days," Two-Bit explained. "The doctors said that the trauma to your head was so much that… that you might not ever wake up. That's when the social worker came and took Soda and Pony away but she wouldn't tell us where."

As Darry was still trying to get his mind around this a man with a white lab coat walked into the room. Darry assumed he was a doctor. "Mr. Curtis, it's good to see you finally awake," the doctor said with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

"I need a phone," Darry said, ignoring his question. "And the number for social services."

**_(Wednesday, October 5)_**

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**Author's Note:** So? What do you think so far? I know Soda is a little out of character at the beginning of this chapter, but don't worry he will be back in character from here on out. Somehow I just don't see Soda as a morning person, haha. Anyway, please review!


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Yay! I'm glad that so many of you guys are in to the plot idea! Thank you so much for all your reviews, please continue to do so! :)

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**Chapter Two**

**Friday, September 23**

_**(Two Weeks Earlier) **_

"Hey Sodapop!"

Soda crawled partway out from under the car he was working on to look over at John, his coworker. "What?" he called back.

"Phone for you," John said with a jerk of his head back toward the store.

Soda cocked an eyebrow. That was odd. No one ever called him at work. "Who is it?" he asked as he climbed fully out from under the car and stood up.

John just shrugged. "No idea," he said.

Soda rolled his eyes as he walked passed him. He quickly crossed the parking lot and entered the store, immediately spotting where John had left the receiver of the phone on the counter. He walked over to it and picked it up.

"Hello?" he said.

"I'm looking for Sodapop Curtis," said a woman on the other end of the line.

"You got him," Soda answered.

"I am calling from Tulsa General Hospital in regards to a Darrel Curtis," she said. Soda immediately felt his stomach fall to somewhere around his feet and he had to grab the counter to keep from falling over. A call from the hospital was never a good thing. He knew this from far too much experience with it just over the past year. "I believe he is your brother?" the woman prompted when Soda was silent, unable to find his voice.

"Yes," Soda managed. "Is he okay?"

"Your brother had an accident at work," the woman said. "He is in critical condition with a very severe concussion. If you can come down to the hospital we can give you more information."

"I'll be right there," Soda said before slamming the phone down, not waiting for a response. He just stood there for a moment, frozen in shock. He was having a really hard time getting him mind around the situation. It seemed inconceivable that anything would ever happen to Darry. He was Superman after all.

"Everythin' okay?"

Soda turned to see John had come in behind him and was looking at him curiously.

"My brother's in the hospital," Soda said, hardly aware of the words that were coming out of his mouth. He shook his head, trying to clear it and focus. Suddenly he was in charge and he needed to figure out what to do. "I need to borrow your car."

"Yeah sure," John said easily, reaching into his pocket and tossing Soda the keys.

As soon as the keys hit Soda's hand he was out the door. He jumped in the car and immediately took off, but not in the direction of the hospital. Instead he headed for the school. He didn't want to do this without Pony. He just couldn't walk into that hospital by himself. He knew Pony would want to be there, but he also knew that he needed Pony to be there. As he pulled up in front of the building he was relieved to see that it was between classes. He wasn't sure if the school would actually release Pony to him since he wasn't his guardian and he figured it would be easier if he could just catch him in hallway.

Soda hurried up the front steps and into the school, quickly blending in with the crowd of students. A few teachers gave him strange looks, he was still in his DX uniform after all, but he simply ignored them. He desperately scanned the crowd for a familiar face, even Steve or Two-Bit would do. Finally he spotted Two-Bit chatting up a girl by the lockers. He hurried over to him.

"Two-Bit!" he called as he approached.

"Soda?" Two-Bit said confused as he turned to him. "What're you doin' here?"

"Do you know where Pony is?" he asked, blatantly ignoring Two-Bit's question. He couldn't answer it, not right now. He needed to focus on one thing at a time in order to keep from falling apart.

"Uh," Two-Bit thought it over. "He might be by his locker. C'mon."

Soda followed Two-Bit. They turned down a few different hallways and soon Soda spotted Pony slamming the door to his locker shut. He turned just as Soda and Two-Bit approached and was startled by them.

"Soda?" Pony said in surprise. Then he seemed to take in the look on his face. "What's wrong?"

"C'mon, Pony, we gotta go," Soda said.

"Where are we goin'?" Pony asked as he followed Soda with Two-Bit keeping up, obviously wanting to know what was going on as well.

Soda sighed. He looked down at his little brother but didn't break stride. "Darry's in the hospital," he said flatly.

Pony's eyes got wide. Obviously the idea that something could be wrong with Darry hadn't even crossed his mind. "Is he okay? What happened?" he asked quickly.

"He got hurt at work," Soda said. "I… I dunno if he's okay…" He couldn't lie to him.

"I'm gonna find Steve," Two-Bit spoke up, looking shaken by the news as well. "We'll meet you guys over there."

"Thanks, Two-Bit," Soda said as they reached the front doors. Two-Bit branched off from them as they hurried down the stairs and out into the parking lot. Soda led Pony over to where he had left John's car and they jumped in. He revved the engine and took off.

They made it to the hospital in record time and Soda thanked anyone who might be listening that there had been no cops out that day. Soda jumped from the car after he had parked and it took him a second to realize that Pony wasn't right behind him. He backtracked to find that Pony was hesitating near the car, looking up at the hospital nervously.

"What is it Pony?" Soda asked, looking at him strangely.

"Last time I was here…" he said quietly, unable to finish his sentence.

That's when Soda remembered. The last time that Pony remembered being at this hospital was when he had watched Johnny die. They had taken him back to the hospital after that when he had gotten sick, but he didn't remember any of that because of his fever. Soda put an arm around Pony's shoulders.

"It's gonna be okay," he said, trying to convince himself as much as Pony.

Pony took a deep breath and then nodded up at him. Soda kept a hold of him as they made their way into the hospital. They immediately approached the nurse's desk.

"I'm looking for my brother," Soda told the nurse. "I got a call saying he's here."

"Name?" the nurse asked.

"Darrel Curtis."

The nurse flipped through a few of her papers. "It looks like he's in surgery," she told him. "You can head up to the waiting room on the third floor. The doctor will find you there when he's done."

Soda nodded. "A few of our friends will be coming by too askin' for him," he told her. "Will you tell them where we are?"

The nurse nodded. "I will," she assured him.

"Thanks," Soda said.

He led Pony over to the elevators and impatiently hit the up button a few times as they waited for it to arrive. He didn't know why he was in a hurry, he knew getting to the waiting room quicker wasn't going to help anything, but he still felt anxious. Once they made it up to the waiting room they saw that there were only two other small groups of people. Soda led Pony over to a far corner where no one would bother them. As they sat and made themselves comfortable Pony reached in his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and quickly lit up. He silently handed the pack over to Soda, who gratefully accepted it, lighting up his own cigarette.

They sat quietly for a while, both staring at nothing in particular. None of this felt real right now. How could this be happening so soon after they had just been in this exact hospital while Johnny and Dally had been here?

"What the hell happened?"

Soda looked up at the loud outburst, recognizing Steve's voice. He glanced over at the other families in the waiting room who were giving him dirty looks for being so loud.

"Keep it down," Soda told him.

"Have you heard anything?" Two-Bit asked as the two of them took seats across from Soda and Pony.

Soda shook his head. "They just told us that he was in surgery and that the doctor would come find us here when he was out."

"Do you know what happened?" Steve asked.

"Not really," Soda admitted. He paused to take a drag off his cigarette. "The woman on the phone said that he was in critical condition with a severe concussion. I guess maybe he fell or something'."

"That doesn't sound like him," Two-Bit pointed out. "He's always so careful."

Soda shrugged. He was still having a hard time comprehending the situation. "I dunno," he mumbled.

He looked over at Pony to find that he looked like he was on the verge of tears. He reached over and put his arm around him, pulling him in close and feeling Pony lean into him for comfort.

They were all quiet as they waited, a grim look on each face. Nobody said it out loud, but it was clear that they all had a bad feeling as to what outcome of this was going to be. Time passed by agonizingly slowly and Soda did his best not to watch the clock because it only seemed to make the time good even slower.

It was a solid hour later before they heard anything. A doctor came out into the waiting room and looked around at each small group that was sitting there.

"Family of Darrel Curtis?" he asked.

Soda felt the knot in his chest tighten. Something about the doctor's expression told him they weren't about to get good news. Everyone was looking to him to answer but he felt frozen and couldn't seem to find his voice.

"Over here," Two-Bit finally spoke up, waving the doctor over.

The doctor walked over to them, looking around at the four. "Which of you is family?" he asked.

"We are," Soda said quickly, forcing his voice out as he nodded his head toward Pony. "He's our brother."

The doctor focused on him, obviously the older of the two. "Your brother was unconscious upon arrival," he said, sounding all business. "We did an x-ray and found that he had a very severe concussion and a bleed in his brain. We immediately took him into surgery to fix the bleed and everything went as well as we could hope for."

Soda paused, attempting to process this information. "So he's gonna be okay?" he asked slowly.

The doctor hesitated. "He was nonresponsive when he came in," he said. "We managed to fix the bleed but there is still a chance that the damage done was too severe. All we can really do right now is make him comfortable and see if he wakes up. We will have a better idea in a little bit as the anesthesia from the surgery wears off."

"Do… do you know exactly what happened?" Soda asked. His voice suddenly sounded very young to himself. He felt very uncomfortable being the one to ask the questions. It wasn't his job to take charge. It was Darry's. But Darry wasn't here.

The doctor glanced down at the chart in his hands. "It says that he fell off a roof and hit his head on a large tree branch on the way down," he said. He looked back up at him. "That was actually probably lucky. The branch probably slowed his fall at least some so that he didn't hit the ground at full speed which could have cause spinal damage as well."

Soda nodded vaguely, not feeling very comforted by the information. "Can we see him?"

The doctor nodded. "I'll show you where his room is."

Soda stood even though he felt a bit unsteady. He looked back down at Pony who looked pale. "C'mon, Pony," he said gently, reaching down and pulling Pony to his feet.

The group followed the doctor down the hall. Soda tried not to think too much about what he was about to find. After a few minutes the doctor stopped outside a door and motioned them inside. They all hesitated. Soda took a deep breath before stepping inside, the strange feeling that somehow he was in charge now coming over him. Everyone else followed suit.

The scene inside the hospital room was not nearly as horrific as Soda had been imagining. Darry lay flat on his back, an IV trailing from his hand up to a bag hanging above his bed, dripping some kind of clear liquid into his veins. The covers on his bed came about halfway up his chest and there were wires disappearing down the neck of his hospital gown connected to a heart monitor that was steadily beeping. His head was wrapped with white bandages. His eyes were closed and his chest steadily rose and fell. If you ignored the hospital equipment it would look almost like he was simply sleeping, which was vaguely comforting to Soda.

Pony made a choked noise next to him and as Soda looked down at him he saw that he was on the verge of tears. As Soda looked back at Darry the illusion that he was simply sleeping was suddenly shattered. He took in all the hospital equipment and he realized how heart wrenching the scene really was. This was their big brother and he lay broken in a hospital bed. Darry had always looked older than twenty ever since their parents had passed. But just then as Soda studied him it was painfully obvious that he wasn't all that much older than him. He wasn't much more than a kid himself, not even twenty-one yet.

Quietly Soda led Pony over to a chair next to the hospital bed and had him sit.

"Soda, you should sit too," Steve said as him and Two-Bit gathered at the foot of the bed.

Soda looked at him and wondered vaguely how he looked to him. He felt a bit like he had been sucker punched. Slowly he lowered himself down into the second chair next to Pony's. They were all quiet for a while, no one really knowing how to even begin to react to this whole situation. It was Pony who finally broke the silence.

"What's gonna happen?" Pony asked quietly, looking up at Soda.

As Soda looked down at his little brother he suddenly felt lost. "I… I dunno, Pony," he admitted, his voice wavering.

Soda wound his arm around Pony and they lapsed into silence once more. Steve and Two-Bit both settled themselves on the floor after a while, both looking as worried as Soda felt. This was hard on all of them.

It was a little over an hour later before the doctor returned. He nodded a greeting at them before going to Darry's bedside. Soda watched carefully as the doctor began checking him over. He listened to his heart, checked his blood pressure, and shined a light into his eyes. Then he took what looked like a small pin from his pocket and began poking Darry's fingers and then lifted the blanket at his feet and poked his toes. Every time the pin made contact there would be a small twitch from Darry's muscles. Soda hoped that was a good sign.

Finally the doctor turned and focused on Soda. Soda shifted a bit uncomfortably. "At this point all of the anesthesia from the surgery has left his system," he said evenly. "Under normal circumstances he would have woken up by now. It's not a good sign that he hasn't yet. However as you saw his muscles are still reacting to pain, which is a good sign that if he does wake up he won't be paralyzed."

Soda just stared for a minute, trying to process. "So… how do we get him to wake up?" he asked slowly.

"Unfortunately with head injuries such as this one there isn't a whole lot we can do at this point," the doctor went on and Soda was glad that he was sitting because suddenly it felt like the world had fallen out from under him. He heard Pony let out a small gasp and Soda reached out and took his hand. "We can do our best to keep him stable, but we will have to wait and see if his brain can recover enough to wake up. If he does then we can go from there."

"So we just… wait?" Soda asked incredulously. He felt so helpless. How could there be nothing anyone could do for his brother?

"I'm sorry boys, but that's the best we can do right now," the doctor answered.

Soda nodded vaguely and the doctor turned and left. The silence was suffocating. Soda leaned over slightly, feeling a bit like he was going to be sick. He could feel Pony tighten his grip on his hand and when he turned to look at him he saw that there were tears flowing freely down his cheeks.

"Hey, it's okay, Pony," Soda said gently as he pulled his brother in close to him and wrapped his arms around him. "He's just gotta wake up. I'm sure he'll wake up soon." He hoped that he sounded more sure than he felt.

"What a crock," Steve muttered from where he sat on the floor. "That's his big fancy medical solution? Wait and see?"

Two-Bit elbowed him to shut him up, but Soda felt the exact same way. How is it that all they could do was sit and wait? It made no sense. Soda didn't know how any of them were going to handle it; he was already just about ready to crawl out of his skin.

Soda could feel Pony's composure slowly slipping away as he began choking on sobs. Soda squeezed him in tighter, trying to provide some kind of comfort.

"It's okay, Pony," Soda whispered, though he knew that everything was far from okay.

"He… he kept saying _if_," Pony murmured. He looked up at Soda with pain in his eyes. "J-just like with Johnny. They kept saying _if."_

Soda suddenly understood. While Johnny had still been in the hospital Pony had been most bothered by how everyone would say _if_ he recovered. It was heartbreaking to hear the doctor talk the same way about their big brother. Suddenly the situation seemed impossible. Soda buried his face in Pony's hair feeling tears slipping down his own cheeks as well.

_Please Darry… _Soda thought desperately to himself. _Please don't leave us. _


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's Note:_ Sorry this is a little delayed guys! I ended up taking a spur of the moment trip this weekend so I didn't get a chance to post this on Friday like I was planning to. Anyway, I hope you like it! Please review!

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**Chapter Three**

**Friday, September 23**

It was getting late. Nobody had the appetite for dinner so they all just sat around Darry's hospital room hoping to see some sign of life. Unfortunately none came. As hours passed with no change in Darry's condition the situation was looking more and more dismal.

It was getting close to midnight when Soda finally coaxed Pony to sleep. They had hardly left their seats all night and Pony had simply curled up into Soda's side and drifted off. Soda kept his arm securely around his younger brother, feeling protective even though he knew that there was no way to protect him from this pain.

"You holdin' up okay?" Steve asked.

Soda looked over to where Steve and Two-Bit sat. Two-Bit had drifted off in a sitting position leaning up against the wall not long after Pony did, leaving only Steve and Soda awake.

Soda snorted lightly. Somehow the question seemed funny to him, though he wasn't quite sure why. "I guess," he said quietly. He looked down at Pony who was sound asleep. "I gotta keep it together. For Pony."

Steve nodded. "Everything's gonna be okay," he said.

"You don't know that," Soda pointed out.

"Sure I do," Steve said easily.

Soda gave him a strained smile. He knew that Steve was only trying to cheer him up. The light feeling didn't last long though as his gaze fell back on his unconscious older brother.

"We had a fight this morning," Soda said quietly.

"You and Darry?" Steve asked in surprise. "You guys never fight."

"I know," Soda said. "And the first time that we do…" He let the thought hang. What if those were the last words he would ever say to Darry? He didn't even say goodbye to him before he left for work, he just stormed out. And thinking back on the conversation it hadn't even been that big of a deal. Soda had just been tired and Darry had every right to tell him not to stay out so late when he had to work the next morning. Why had he gotten so mad at Darry for something so stupid? It seemed beyond insignificant at this point.

"I'm sure whatever you guys fought about, Darry wouldn't have taken it personally," Steve tried.

Soda sighed. "I hope not," he said tiredly.

They were quiet for a few minutes. "Do you need anythin'?" Steve asked. "I feel like I should be doin' somethin'."

"Yeah," Soda said. "I could use some coffee."

Steve looked at him funny for a minute. "You don't like coffee," he said slowly.

"Just dump a bunch of cream and sugar in it," Soda said. "I want to stay up as late as possible tonight in case he wakes up." _He has to wake up… he just has to…_

"Okay," Steve said, getting up off the floor. "I'll be right back."

As Steve left the room Soda was suddenly alone with his thoughts. The whole situation was beyond overwhelming, and he was struggling with how he was supposed to deal with all of it. Moving carefully so as not to wake Pony, Soda moved his hand forward and gently took Darry's hand, giving it a light squeeze.

"I'm sorry, Darry," he said quietly. "I'm sorry we fought this morning. I didn't mean any of what I said, I was just tired." He paused. "Please… you gotta wake up. We need you, Darry. I don't know what we'd do without you. So _please_… please just wake up."

The silence that followed Soda's pleading echoed through the room as several tears escaped down his face.

XxXxX

**Monday, September 26**

Minutes passed turning into hours. Hours passed turning into days. Steve and Two-Bit were in and out of Darry's hospital room, but Soda and Pony hardly moved from his bedside except for the occasional smoke or bathroom break. School and work just seemed so unimportant at the moment. Soda hardly even comprehended that there was a world outside of that room at this point.

By the third day the boys didn't expect much. There had been no improvement in Darry's condition and deep down each one of them were starting to believe that there wouldn't ever be one. None of them would dare admit it out loud though. They just quietly kept their vigil at Darry's bedside as they attempted to hold on to whatever vague hope they could, praying for some kind of miracle. They would speak to each other in hushed tones as if to feed the illusion that Darry were merely sleeping. It was the only way any of them were able to keep any semblance of sanity as they days passed by them.

The third day after the accident everyone was at their wits end. They were all sleep deprived and barely eating. They looked a bit like a bunch of zombies sitting around the room.

It was late afternoon when the doctor came in to check on Darry. They were all used to this by now and had stopped questioning him days ago, discouraged by all his reports of "no change." Instead he was a mostly silent visitor that would wander in and wander out a few times a day, many times without saying a word. Soda hardly took much notice anymore. This was why he wasn't immediately aware that the doctor wasn't alone this time.

Soda was staring vacantly as the doctor checked Darry over for what felt like the hundredth time when Pony reached over and nudged him. Soda turned his head to look at him and was surprised to find that his eyes looked suddenly very frightened. Soda couldn't understand the change until Pony turned his head to look at the doorway behind them and Soda turned as well, following his gaze. When he saw the woman standing in the doorway he recognized her immediately and his stomach dropped.

"Hello Sodapop. Ponyboy," she greeted with a grim note in her voice.

"Ms. Daniels," Soda returned slowly. Ms. Daniels was their social worker. There was really only one reason that she would be here right now. Steve and Two-Bit both stood and moved closer, sensing what was about to happen.

"Still no change," the doctor reported as he finished up his exam. He straightened up and turned to look at Ms. Daniels. "He's still unresponsive, and there are no signs of brain activity."

"How did you know we were here?" Soda asked Ms. Daniels, trying to ignore what the doctor had just said.

"The hospital called after Darrel's accident," she said calmly and Soda immediately realized that it had been a stupid question. Of course their social worker would know what had happened. "We've been keeping a close eye on the situation. It seems that Darrel can no longer be responsible for you two."

Soda felt himself go cold as he reached over and took Pony's hand. It wasn't that he hadn't realized that he and Pony might get taken away by the state because of the situation. But he had been in denial about it as much as he could, not even allowing himself to think about the possibility. "He's just gotta wake up," Soda said stubbornly. It was the same thing he had told himself over and over during the past three days in order to keep from falling apart. He turned to look at the doctor, his eyes pleading. "He can still wake up, right?"

"There is still a possibility," the doctor said slowly. "But the more time that passes the less likely that scenario is."

"We're not leaving him," Soda said as firmly as he could. "He wouldn't leave if it was one of us in that hospital bed."

"I'm sorry, Sodapop, but you don't have a choice," Ms. Daniels said evenly. "You two are minors and cannot live in this hospital room waiting for him to wake up. And even if he does wake up he might not be in any state to take care of you. If he does wake up we can reassess. But until then you and Ponyboy need to be taken care of."

Soda sat frozen in his seat for a moment. He could feel anger bubbling just below the surface. No way was he going to a boys' home. He would be seventeen in just a few weeks time. He thought over his options. He could run. He could run away and hide from social services. They wouldn't look very hard for him, he knew that they wouldn't. He was too old for them to really care about. They only really cared about kids, not teenagers.

He had just about decided on his plan when he caught Pony's eyes, looking up to him for answers. He suddenly realized that if Pony ran away he would have to drop out of school. No school would take him without a legal guardian. That wasn't an option; Pony was the only one of them with any kind of future. Soda knew Darry would want Pony to stay in school. Going to the boy's home was the only way that was going to happen. And Soda couldn't just abandon Ponyboy and send him to the boys' home by himself. Not to mention that if they did run and then Darry did wake up, there is no way social services would grant him custody of them again. That's when he suddenly realized that he was powerless to stop this.

"Soda?" Steve prompted, looking at him with concern. Clearly he was thinking hard about a way to get them out of this as well. Unfortunately Soda could already see that there was no way around this.

"Come on, boys," Ms. Daniels said firmly. "We have to go."

Soda sighed heavily as he slowly got to his feet.

"Soda, you can't be serious," Steve hissed in an undertone as he stepped closer so that Ms. Daniels wouldn't hear. "Just take off, she can't make you do shit."

Soda was already shaking his head. "I can't leave Pony," he said in a low voice. "And if he runs he can forget about college." Steve looked at him as if he had lost his mind. He never put much stock into school. "Darry wouldn't want him to be a dropout too."

Steve's eyes were hard, but Soda didn't waiver. Two-Bit stepped up and clapped Soda on the shoulder.

"We'll keep an eye on Darry while you're gone," Two-Bit said.

Soda gave him a strained smile. "Thanks, Two-Bit," he said.

"We really gotta leave?" Pony asked quietly.

"Just for a little while," Soda tried to assure him.

Pony swallowed hard before he nodded. He reached a slightly shaking hand forward and placed it on top of Darry's unnervingly still hand. "Get better soon, Darry," he said quietly.

Slowly Pony pulled himself to his feet and move closer to Soda. Soda glanced at Darry but couldn't come up with anything to say. Everything he thought of just sounded too permanent. Like he was saying goodbye. He had to believe that this was only going to be temporary. He had to believe that Darry would never really leave them.

"So where you gonna take them?" Steve demanded, looking over at Ms. Daniels with anger in his eyes.

"They will be placed in appropriate care," she said evenly, clearly a practiced line.

"What the hell does that mean?" Steve demanded angrily.

"Easy, Steve," Two-Bit said, putting a hand on Steve's shoulder as if to restrain him.

"I cannot disclose any more information than that," Ms. Daniels said.

Steve opened his mouth to retaliate, but Soda cut him off, not wanting a scene. He knew there was no use. "It's okay, Steve," he tried to reassure him. "We'll be fine. Just watch over Darry for us, okay? As soon as he wakes up he'll get us back." He hoped that he sounded more sure than he felt.

With one last glance as their immobile older brother, trying not to think of the possibility that this may be the last time he ever saw him, Soda turned and led Pony from the room. They were quiet as they moved through the halls of the hospital and out to the parking lot. Ms. Daniels led them to her car and they both climbed into the backseat.

"I'll take you to your house so that you can pack some things," Ms. Daniels told them as she started the car.

The car ride passed in a blur and soon Soda was aware of walking up the front steps with Pony at his side. Soda had a sinking feeling in his stomach as they entered the house. He had lived in this house his entire life. Pony and Darry had too. Would they ever come back here again?

Ms. Daniels waited in the living room as Soda and Pony went back to their bedroom. Soda pulled two bags from the closet and tossed one to Pony. As they began packing up clothes Soda couldn't help but glancing at the window every few minutes. He could just climb right out that window and run for it. It would be ridiculously easy to do. And he hated that he knew he couldn't do it.

He noticed that Pony had stopped packing and was now sitting on the edge of the bed staring vacantly straight ahead. His eyes were wide with shock and suddenly he seemed a lot younger than fourteen. Soda went over to him and carefully sat next to him.

"Pony?" Soda said. Pony didn't move. "Ponyboy?" he repeated.

Pony slowly turned to look at him. "I don't wanna go to the boy's home," he said.

"It'll be okay," Soda said, putting an arm around him. "This is just temporary. It'll be just until Darry wakes up and then he'll get us back. And I'll be right there with you. I ain't gonna leave you. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Pony said reluctantly.

Soda gave him a comforting squeeze. He could hear Ms. Daniels pacing out in the living room and he sighed, knowing that they couldn't put it off much longer. He helped Pony pack some of his books before they picked up their bags and headed back out into the hallway. But before they headed out of the house Soda hesitated as he looked into the kitchen.

"Hang on," Soda said as he stopped. He looked over at Ms. Daniels. "Five more minutes?" he asked.

Ms. Daniels sighed and glanced down at her watch. "Five minutes," she agreed a bit reluctantly.

Soda nodded as he put his bag down and headed into the kitchen. Pony followed suit. In the kitchen Soda went right for the sink full of dirty dishes.

"What're you doin'?" Pony asked, confused.

Soda turned on the faucet. "Washin' the dishes," he said. "So Darry doesn't have to do it when he gets home."

Pony smiled lightly at this as he stepped forward to help. Soda just had to believe that Darry was going to wake up. That was the only way that he was able to keep himself together. And he needed to keep himself together for Pony's sake. He had to keep reminding himself of that. Darry always seemed to do it with such ease. When everything fell apart Darry always kept himself together so well that it seemed almost effortless. Soda suddenly had a new respect for how he was able to do that so well.

After the dishes were done Soda knew that they couldn't put it off any longer. With a heavy heart he moved back into the living room to get his bag, Pony following along. Through all of this he could at least be grateful that he still had Ponyboy with him. As they walked out of their house Soda did his best not to even consider the idea that this could be the last time that they would be here.

The two climbed back into the backseat of the social worker's car. As Ms. Daniels began driving away Soda noticed Pony craning his neck around so that he could look at the house as long as possible. As they rounded the corner at the end of the street Pony turned back and Soda could see the glistening signs of tears in his eyes, though he was clearly fighting hard against them. Soda discreetly reached over and took his little brother's hand in an attempt to comfort him. Pony had been holding up really well with this new situation, all things considered.

Soda did his best to keep his bearings as they drove, wanting to know exactly where they were going. The boy's home ended up being a bit farther away than he had thought it would be, almost a half hour drive into downtown. That made him feel uneasy. Ms. Daniels pulled up along the curb in front of a big brick building. It was four stories tall and seemed to be only a little smaller than the high school that Pony attends. The thing that made it look drastically different than the school was the tall, ominous-looking chain link fence that surrounded it.

Both boys hesitated in the car as Ms. Daniels impatiently waited outside, tapping her foot lightly. Soda gave Pony's hand a reassuring squeeze before he shoved open the car door and stepped out. He took a deep breath, reminding himself that this was only temporary. This couldn't be forever… it just couldn't.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**Wednesday, October 5**

"Absolutely not," the doctor answered firmly, responding to Darry's demand to be taken to a phone so that he could call social services. "You have been in a coma for almost two weeks, Darrel, you are nowhere near ready to get out of bed yet. Even if we did put you in a wheelchair chances are you'd be unconscious by the time we got you to a phone."

"I could call them," Two-Bit volunteered.

"No offense, Two-Bit, but I don't think they'd give you any information now if they wouldn't before, you know?" Darry pointed out.

"Oh. Right," Two-Bit realized.

"I really need to examine you and check your vitals," the doctor spoke up.

"He seems fine to me," Steve said with a shrug. It wasn't completely true. Darry had a pounding headache and he felt achy and still a bit disoriented. But he wasn't concerned about that right now. All he could think about at the moment was his brothers.

"You can do your check up after you contact social services," Darry said as firmly as he could. "They at least need to know that I woke up."

"I could call them right after I do a few tests," the doctor said.

Darry shook his head and just that small movement was enough to send the room spinning around him. He blinked several times until his vision stabilized. "You ain't comin' near me until social services know I'm awake so that they can tell my brothers."

The doctor looked at him for a minute, as if sizing him up. "Alright, I'll make the call," he finally agreed. "I'll be right back."

They all watched him go and Darry let out a light sigh of relief. At the very least his brothers would know that he was okay. That would have to be enough to content him for the time being until he could speak with social services himself and get this mess sorted out.

"I can't believe this happened," Darry mumbled mostly to himself. He slowly reached up and gingerly touched his forehead, feeling the bandages wrapped around it.

"Yeah, the last two weeks have been pretty unbelievable," Two-Bit said, an uncharacteristically serious note in his voice. "Everyday we wake up and gotta remind ourselves it wasn't just a bad dream." He looked down at his hands. "Both Soda and Pony were takin' it real hard… you know, before they got taken away. Can't imagine it got easier after that."

"Soda just went for Pony's sake," Steve told him. "He said if they ran away then Pony would have to drop out of school and he knew you wouldn't want that."

Darry nodded slowly. He didn't like the situation, but he was glad with the decision that Soda had made. He knew that Soda could have easily run, but he was right to think of Pony's schooling. And Darry was glad that if nothing else, Soda and Pony were at least together. That was something anyway.

Finally the doctor came back into the room and they all looked at him expectantly.

"Well?" Darry prompted.

"I told social services that you have woken up and appeared coherent," the doctor told him. "They said that after you've been discharged from the hospital you can set up a meeting and petition for custody again."

"How long until I can be discharged?" Darry asked.

"Well, I can't know for sure until you allow me to examine your condition," the doctor said pointedly. "But I would say at least another week if not more."

Darry felt his heart drop. Another week suddenly seemed very far away. Soda and Pony had been who knows where for a week already while he had been unconscious. And the fact that they had said that he needed to petition for custody again seemed very ominous to him. Did that mean that he had to start from scratch and go through the entire process again before he could get his brothers back? That made no sense. None of them had done anything wrong. Why wouldn't they simply send Pony and Soda home as soon as Darry was out of the hospital? Perhaps he was just reading too much into the wording of the message. He could only hope so.

As his sudden burst of energy began to fade, Darry was suddenly feeling very drained. He looked over at Two-Bit and Steve and saw that they looked as disappointed as he felt with this news. He was glad that they were here, but it wasn't the same as having his brothers here with him. Not only because he still felt responsible for them, but also because it would have been a comfort to have them here with him while he was in the hospital.

As the doctor was checking him over Darry noticed the room start to spin around him and he was having a hard time keeping his eyes open.

"Is he okay?" he could hear Two-Bit's worried voice, but it suddenly sounded very far away.

"Yes, he is," he heard the doctor assure him. "His body has been through a lot the past few weeks. He still needs rest and time to really recover."

"He'd rest easier if his brothers were here," Steve mumbled moodily.

The truth of that hit Darry hard as he was drifting off, wondering where his brothers were and if they were okay. It couldn't have been easy for them to get taken away while Darry was unconscious in the hospital. All he could hope for was that this wouldn't be a lengthy separation. That was his last thought as his consciousness slipped away and he fell back into a deep sleep.

XxXxX

_**Sunday, October 9**_

Darry continued to improve over the course of the next few days, but at a painfully slow rate. He spent a lot of his time sleeping and when he was awake he always had a pounding headache. He also found that he had a hard time focusing which he found very frustrating. All he wanted was for things to go back to normal. All he wanted was his brothers back. Why did this have to take so long?

Steve and Two-Bit came by every day and Darry was grateful for that. It was hard waking up every day in this strange place surrounded by strange people. Steve and Two-Bit were the only bit of familiarity that he was allowed right now. The whole situation was hard for all of them to deal with. Steve had even taken to driving around to a couple different boys homes that he had tracked down, but couldn't get near any of them. Darry hated that he couldn't even know where Soda and Pony were right now. They could be anywhere for all they knew.

Four days after he had woken up Darry was finally allowed out of bed. It took several attempts, the first couple times he felt too dizzy to stay on his feet. But finally he was at least able to make it across the room on his own.

"Looks like you're doin' better," Two-Bit mentioned as Darry returned to his bed after a lap around the room.

"Yeah," Darry agreed with a sigh. "Think one of you could track down a wheelchair?"

Two-Bit cocked an eyebrow. "Why?" he asked.

"I need to get to a phone," Darry said firmly. This time he wasn't going to bother asking permission. He just had to do something or he was going to lose his mind.

"You sure you're up for that?" Two-Bit asked slowly.

"I can sit in a wheelchair," Darry said with exasperation.

"Okay," Two-Bit consented as he stood and left the room. He didn't need much convincing. They were all worried about Soda and Pony.

"You know they're not just gonna let them go, right?" Steve said flatly in his usual cynical manner. He was having a rough time without his best friend. Soda was always the one who kept Steve together.

"They have to eventually," Darry said, giving Steve a bit of a glare. He wasn't in the mood for Steve's pessimism right now. "None of us have done anything wrong. There's no reason to not give me back custody."

Steve sighed. "Yeah hopefully."

Two-Bit reappeared rather quickly with a wheelchair and Darry couldn't help but smile a bit. Two-Bit's knack for swiping things discreetly certainly came in handy sometimes. Steve stood up and helped Darry carefully shift from the bed into the wheelchair and Darry fell kind of hard into the seat, wincing slightly.

"You okay there, Superman?" Two-Bit asked.

Darry laughed dryly. "I ain't no Superman," he muttered.

Two-Bit pushed the wheelchair out into the hallway with Steve following along. They headed down the hall and came to a stop next to the nurse's station. One nurse looked at him in surprise, clearly not expecting him to have left his room.

"I need to use a phone," Darry said bluntly.

"I don't think you're supposed to be out of bed," the nurse said slowly, sounding a bit confused.

"It'll just take a minute, then I'll go back," Darry told her, feeling annoyed. It had been a long time since anyone had told him what to do. He didn't like feeling so out of control lately. The nurse nodded and shifted the phone to the counter so that Darry could reach it. "Do you have the number for social services?" he asked, trying to sound polite.

"Uh, yeah," she said slowly. She dug around the papers in front of her for a minute before pulling out a blank form and pointing to a phone number at the top of it. "It's right here."

"Thanks," Darry said. He grabbed the receiver and quickly punched in the number. He waited anxiously as the phone rang.

"Social services, this is Debra Michaels," a woman's voice said.

"Can I speak to Sandra Daniels?" Darry asked.

"One moment please."

Several minutes later another voice came across the line. "This is Sandra Daniels."

"Hi Ms. Daniels, this is Darrel Curtis," Darry said.

"Darrel!" Ms. Daniels said in surprise. "I'm surprised to hear from you so soon. The doctor said that you'd be in the hospital at least a week."

"Well, I'm still in the hospital," Darry admitted. "I just wanted to call and check in on my brothers."

"They are doing fine, Darrel," Ms. Daniels assured him.

Darry didn't really believe her, but that wasn't the major issue he wanted to talk about right now. "I was wondering how long it would be before I can get them back."

"Well, we will have to set up an appointment to discuss it after you are released," Ms. Daniels said slowly, sounding a bit reluctant.

"What's there to be discussed?" Darry asked, a hint of an edge in his voice.

"We need to discuss your condition," Ms. Daniels said.

"If I'm out of the hospital that'll mean my condition is stable," Darry pointed out.

"Yes, but there are many side effects of severe concussions to be considered," Ms. Daniels explained calmly. "We just need to make sure that you are still fit to be Ponyboy and Sodapop's guardian."

Darry sighed as he gently rubbed his forehead, feeling the pounding in his head getting worse. "I am still a fit guardian," he said stubbornly. "I've been mostly fine since waking up and I've been getting better."

"Well then it won't be a problem," Ms. Daniels said. "But we still need to make sure we are doing what's best for Ponyboy and Sodapop. We also need to make sure that your work situation is not changed because of this and you will still be able to provide for your brothers even with the hospital bills that you will need to pay off." She paused as Darry felt his heart fall. Overall it wasn't sounding good. "Darrel, you just worry about resting up and healing right now. While you do that Ponyboy and Sodapop will be well taken care of. You can call back after you've been discharged and we can start working through the process of determining custody."

"Okay," Darry said flatly, knowing that there would be no arguing. "Thank you, Ms. Daniels."

"Anytime, Darrel," Ms. Daniels said. "Now you just concentrate on healing while we take care of your brothers."

"Yeah," Darry said reluctantly. "I'll call back as soon as I get discharged."

"I'm sure you will," Ms. Daniels said, a hint of a smile behind her voice. Overall Ms. Daniels had always been very supportive of their situation. Darry hoped that she would continue to be understanding about how close of a family they were and how much they needed each other. "I'll talk to you soon, Darrel."

"Goodbye," Darry said. He hung up.

"Well?" Steve said impatiently.

"I gotta wait till I'm discharged before I can set up a meeting," he said, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice.

"Well that shouldn't be much longer," Two-Bit said, trying to sound hopeful as he began pushing the wheelchair back to Darry's room. "You've been doing well lately, expect for still being tired."

"Yeah," Darry muttered, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Suddenly the light in the hallway seemed awfully bright.

"Darry?" Steve said slowly. "You okay?"

"My head," Darry murmured. His headache was steadily becoming even worse.

"C'mon, let's get you back in bed," Two-Bit said.

Darry squinted his eyes open and realized that they were back in his hospital room. Slowly he heaved himself out of the chair with Two-Bit's help and shifted back into bed. As he tried to get himself settled suddenly his headache skyrocketed. He squeezed his eyes shut and groaned as he grabbed his head.

"Darry?" He could barely hear Steve's worried voice.

Darry wasn't sure how much time had passed before someone was shaking him lightly. He felt two pills being placed in his hand and he took the hint as he popped them into his mouth and then took the glass of water offered to him. Slowly the pain became a little more bearable. Finally he was able to squint his eyes open, seeing Steve and Two-Bit standing over him looking worried. The doctor stood next to him.

"Darrel?" the doctor said. "How are you feeling?"

"A little better," Darry said, though there was still a dull pounding in his head. "What happened?"

"It was a migraine," the doctor told him. "A side effect of the concussion. You will probably get those from time to time. I can give you medicine to help, but they still may be pretty debilitating for short periods of time."

Darry nodded slightly, wincing a bit as it aggravated his headache. "What other side effects are there?" he asked.

"Well we will have to see if any other symptoms will even present themselves," the doctor said. "But in addition to the migraines there may be bouts of dizziness and blurred vision as well as issues with sleeping, either sleeping too much or not enough. There could also be shifts in personally, such as being quick to anger or depression. You also may experience some issues with concentrating and your ability to focus." Darry closed his eyes briefly, feeling overwhelmed. "But not all the symptoms may present themselves. We will have to wait and see."

"Okay," Darry mumbled. But the situation was feeling more and more bleak to him. "When do you think I'll be able to go home?"

"I would like to keep you here a few more days to monitor any other post-concussive symptoms," the doctor said. "But if everything goes well I believe you should be able to be discharged by the end of the week."

Darry sighed. He was anxious to get out of here, but he couldn't imagine returning to that empty house by himself. He felt a lot less sure about getting his brothers back after talking with Ms. Daniels and the doctor. It suddenly seemed like a near impossible task. But it didn't mean that he wasn't going to do his damnedest to make it happen. He needed his brothers just as much as they needed him, and he would never abandon them. He was going to do everything he possibly could to get them back, no matter how long it takes.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Sorry this is a little late guys. But if it makes you feel any better I am up way later than I should be to finish this up for you! Hope you like it! Please don't forget to leave a review!

* * *

**Chapter Five**

_**Monday, September 26**_

Soda and Pony passed through the gate in front of the boys home, hearing it clang shut behind them as a man in a security uniform locked it. This whole situation was becoming more ominous by the minute.

"There is twenty-four hour security for the safety of the boys here," Ms. Daniels explained as they walked up the front steps.

"That's real comforting," Soda muttered so that only Pony could hear. As Pony turned and eyeballed the tall fence behind him he could see what his brother meant. Clearly the security wasn't there because of outside threats.

Ms. Daniels opened the front door and they were immediately assaulted with sounds of chaos. Boys were running around the hallways, yelling and banging into things. Pony was surprised to see how unorganized the place seemed. As one boy around Pony's age ran by he bumped into Pony slightly. Then a second later the older boy who was chasing him rushed past, almost knocking Pony over as Soda reached over and steadied him to keep him from falling over. A security guard near the door yelled at the boys, but neither stopped and soon they had disappeared down a hallway.

"Come with me, boys," Ms. Daniels prompted as she was already partway down a different corridor.

Pony felt a bit frazzled as he hesitated. Soda silently nudged Pony along and they followed Ms. Daniels down the hall. She paused outside a closed door and knocked. After muffled invitation in Ms. Daniels opened the door and beckoned Soda and Pony inside.

Inside the office was small, almost claustrophobic. There was just enough room for a good-sized desk, two chairs sitting in front of it, and a bookshelf off to one side. Behind the desk sat an older woman with short brown hair that was graying at the roots and frown lines on her face. She looked over a pair of spectacles, frowning at them with a hard look on her face. Pony shifted uneasily under her strict gaze.

"Boys, this is Mrs. Walters," Ms. Daniels said. "She runs the house."

"These are the Curtis boys?" Mrs. Walters asked stiffly, hardly glancing at the two of them as she focused on Ms. Daniels.

"Yes they are," Ms. Daniels confirmed.

"Very well," Mrs. Walters said with a sigh, sounding a bit cross. "We'll get them settled. Thanks you, Sandra."

Ms. Daniels obviously took this as a dismissal. She turned to Pony and Soda and gave them a strained smile. "I know this has been a difficult day for you, but it'll be alright, you'll see."

"You'll let us know as soon as Darry wakes up?" Soda said pointedly.

"Of course, Sodapop," Ms. Daniels assured them. "Now you behave. Both of you."

Soda offered her no response and Pony followed his lead. Ms. Daniels took the hint as she turned and left the room, closing the door behind her. Closed in that tiny office Pony suddenly felt skittish, like a trapped animal.

"Sit," Mrs. Walters commanded, nodding at the chairs in front of her. "We need to go over a few rules."

Soda sent Pony an exasperated look – clearly annoyed at the tone of her order that made it sound like she was talking to a couple of stray dogs – before sitting down and crossing his arms over his chest, settling a tough look on his face. Pony took a breath before sitting in the chair next to Soda.

Mrs. Walters took her glasses off and placed them on the desk in front of her as she looked at them. "Now, you will be placed in bedrooms upstairs and your bags will be immediately searched for anything illegal or dangerous. There is no leaving the property at any time for any reason. You will be allowed outside in the yard only at designated exercise time once a day, weather permitting. There will be no fighting in the hallways, no exceptions. You will remain civil at all times. Five days a week you will attend a mandatory study hall to work on schoolwork. There will be tutors available to you during this time. Everyone is required to be in their rooms by ten o'clock each night." Her speech was clearly well rehearsed. "Is this clear?" There was silence. "Is. This. Clear." She spoke each work like it's own statement.

"Yeah," Soda said shortly.

Mrs. Walters shifted her gaze to Pony. He took in a breath and had to work not to shrink back in his seat under her hard look. "Does he talk?" she demanded.

"Only when he wants to," Soda shot back immediately.

Pony was glad that Soda was there to defend him. He really didn't feel like speaking right now. Thankfully Mrs. Walters seemed to shrug it off as she stood up from her chair. "Well I'll show you where your rooms will be."

They followed Mrs. Walters out of her office, still carrying their bags. As they walked she pointed out the cafeteria and study hall room as they passed them. She led them up the stairs and into a long hallway with doorways on each side, at least a dozen of them total though Pony noticed that there were no actual doors just empty hinges as if someone had taken them all down in a hurry. As they passed Pony could see that each room had at least two sets of bunk beds, some had three even though there were barely enough room for them and others had extra mattresses on the floor. It seemed they were trying to shove as many boys as possible into each room. At the far end of the hall Pony could just catch a glimpse of a rec room of sorts with a television that was blaring while a crowd of kids hung around it. Pony was quickly beginning to get an idea how overcrowded with children this building really was.

"What's that one's name?"

Pony whipped around to look at Mrs. Walters who had abruptly stopped in front of one of the rooms about halfway down the hallway. She was addressing Soda as she indicated Pony, clearly not even sure what his name was.

"Ponyboy," Soda said, glaring slightly at her.

"Ponyboy?" Mrs. Walters repeated, raising her eyebrows suspiciously, like she wasn't sure if Soda were trying to play a trick on her. Soda only nodded, his eyes daring her to question it. She turned to Pony. "Is that really your name?"

"Yes," Pony confirmed sullenly.

Pony couldn't tell if she believed them or not, but clearly she wasn't really concerned about it. "You will be in this room." She indicated the room they were in front of. "The bottom bunk on that bed is available."

Pony shot an uneasy glance up at Soda. "What about my brother?" he asked quickly.

"He will be down the hall," Mrs. Walters answered shortly.

Pony hesitated. "We can't be in the same room?" he blurted.

The look that Mrs. Walters gave him immediately made him feel embarrassed for even asking. "Aren't you old enough to stay in a room down the hall from your brother?"

"Yes," Pony mumbled stubbornly. He didn't like how she made him feel like a little kid.

"You may place you bag on the bed," Mrs. Walters said. "Someone will be by to go through it soon."

Pony sighed to himself as he heaved his bag over his shoulder as he walked into the room. There was a bunk bed on either side of the room and in the small space between them was a twin sized mattress on the floor with a pillow and a few blankets strewn on it. Pony carefully maneuvered around it, doing his best to step on it since clearly it was someone's bed. He tossed his bag thoughtlessly on the bed that was indicated to him before turning and rejoining Mrs. Walters and Soda in the hallway.

They moved a little farther down the hallway before Mrs. Walters stopped and indicated that Soda take the mattress on the floor in another room. Soda didn't even bother walking in to the room, and instead he simply tossed his bag to the mattress from the doorway since it was only a foot away. Pony glanced back at the room that he would be staying in. The room Soda would be in was two doors down on the opposite side of the hallway. He tried to tell himself that wasn't too bad. At least they were still near each other even if they were in separate rooms. It was just hard to ignore the nagging in the pit of his stomach. After everything that had happened in the past few days alone he wasn't terribly comfortable with any kind of distance between him and Soda.

"Dinner will be in a half hour," Mrs. Walters said, checking her watch. "You are free to wander the building at this point, but you are required to be in the cafeteria for dinner." And without any further instructions she turned and walked away, leaving them standing in the middle of the hallway.

Pony and Soda just stood there quietly for several minutes as they watched her go.

Soda sighed, finally breaking the silence. "Well this is a holy mess," he muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, no kidding," Pony agreed. As he looked around the reality of the situation was starting to hit him hard. He looked up at Soda. "Do… do you think Darry will be okay?" He simply couldn't imagine loosing anyone else, not now after everything they had been through in the past year.

"Yeah, he'll get better," Soda said, clearly putting a lot of effort into trying to sound like he believed himself. "He'll wake up and get better then he'll come get us. You'll see."

Pony nodded, wanting so badly to believe him.

Neither of them had any desire to wander around the building, not wanting to get comfortable here. So they simple hovered in the doorway of the rec room, catching glimpses of the television as boys moved around the room. At one point a fight broke out over which channel to watch and fists began flying before long. Pony expected someone to come out of the woodwork to break up the fight, but it appeared for all intensive purposes that they were completely unsupervised here. The fight only stopped when three boys ganged up on one, with two pinning down the one while the third beat up on him until he gave up, stumbling away with blood pouring from his nose.

"Yeah, real civilized," Soda muttered under his breath sarcastically as they watched the scene. "So much for _Mrs. Walters'_ rules." He spat her name with an air of disgust.

Pony nodded, feeling more uneasy after what he had just witnessed. He glanced over at Soda and was suddenly immensely glad that he wasn't here alone. Soda at least provided some sense of security.

It wasn't long before an adult passed through the hallway, beckoning everyone to dinner. Pony and Soda simply fell into the crowd as everyone obediently made their way down to the cafeteria. As they waited in line for food it reminded Pony a lot of his cafeteria back at his school, not that he ever really ate in there. Pony felt awkward as they waited in line and gathered their food, feeling completely out of place in the situation. But as they sat at a table and ate Pony was surprised to find that the other boys hardly gave them a second glance. Pony figured that it was a sign of how often people come and go in this place that made it harder to pick out new faces. It was a relief though in his mind.

Pony and Soda managed to fly under the radar for the rest of the evening. They witnessed another fight during dinner, this one broken up by two of the security guards. After dinner they headed back up to the rec room and sat and watched television with a large group of the boys. Pony found himself lost in thought thinking about Darry and wondering how he was doing and before he knew it time had passed and everyone was being ushered to bed. Pony felt his stomach tie into a knot. Up until this point he had been able to stick to Soda like glue. Now they were going to have to separate though.

They walked down the hallway with everyone else and Soda stopped outside the door to the room he was assigned to and reached out and placed a hand on Pony's bicep, pulling him to a stop.

"You need me at all, you come wake me up," Soda said in a low voice for only Pony to hear.

"I'll be fine," Pony tried to assure him, fidgeting a bit.

Soda nodded. "Just keep that in mind in case you have any… problems with the other guys."

Pony knew exactly what was on his mind. They had only been here a few hours and had already seen two fights. Pony knew that kids in the system could be pretty disturbed and at times a boy's home could be just as bad a reform school. The boys here may not technically be criminals but Pony could already tell that most of them seemed far from well adjusted. The well-adjusted ones were probably out in foster homes. The ones left in the boy's home were the ones that they couldn't place anywhere.

"I will," Pony told him steadily.

Soda gave his arm a comforting squeeze before letting go. "I'll see you in the morning."

Pony took a deep breath. "Okay, see you in the morning," he reiterated to reassure himself. Then with an effort he turned and headed for the room that he was supposed to sleep in.

When he reached his room he saw that the other four boys already seemed to be there. There was a boy younger than him, maybe ten or so, crawling up into the bunk above his. An older boy probably around Soda's age lay sprawled out on the mattress on the floor talking with a boy his own age in the other bottom bunk. The other top bunk was already occupied by someone who had pulled the covers up over them, mostly obscuring them from view.

"Hey look, fresh meat!" the boy on the floor said loudly as Pony made his way over to his bed.

Pony glanced over at him but didn't say anything. He was too afraid of saying something wrong and he hoped that they would just leave him alone. Unfortunately no such luck.

"Hey Mark, you coulda taken the bunk," the other boy he had been talking to pointed out.

Pony froze as the boy – Mark – eyeballed his bed. "Naw, man," he said finally. "I like it fine right here."

Pony turned his back to him as he went to his bag. It was obvious that someone had gone through it; it lay open with everything rifled through. He dug through for a moment, feeling his stomach fall. He had been afraid of this when Mrs. Walters had said their bags would be searched. His extra pack of cigarettes was gone. He still had a few left in the pack in his pocket along with his lighter, but he was going to run out quick. He wished he could have a smoke right now, but he didn't know what the other boys in the room would do. He didn't want to cause any trouble.

"Lights out, newbie!"

Suddenly the light went out as the other boys laughed. Pony blinked several times to try and adjust to the dim light that filtered in from the hallway. He blindly dug around his bag until he was able to come up with his pajamas. He stumbled around as he managed to change. Finally he climbed into the strange bed in the strange room. He felt empty as he lay there, staring up at the bottom of the bunk above him. This was what they had always feared. He could hardly believe this was really happening right now. They had all worked so hard to keep this from happened, especially Darry. And suddenly all he could think of was Darry laying alone in that hospital bed. The image brought tears to his eyes and he quickly rolled over so that he was facing the wall and pulled the covers up over his head. No way did he want these boys hearing him crying.

XxXxX

Pony must have drifted off at some point. He certainly didn't remember going to sleep. But suddenly there was noise. A lot of noise. He wasn't sure what was happening. And suddenly pain exploded on the side of his head and he cried out.

"Jesus, shut him the hell up!"

Pony felt stunned as he blinked around the dark room. He was aware that somehow he was sitting up but he couldn't tell where he was. This wasn't his bedroom.

"Ponyboy?" Suddenly the light in the room snapped on and someone was sitting next to him. Pony turned his head and was suddenly looking at Soda's concerned face. "Pony?"

"Wha' happened?" Pony mumbled.

"I think you had a nightmare, kiddo," Soda said in an undertone, placing a comforting hand on his back.

"My head," Pony said, still confused as he gingerly touched the side of his head.

Soda turned his head gently to get a look at it. "It's swelling up," he said slowly. "Did you hit it on something?"

"I hit 'em," came a grumble from the floor. "He was screamin' like a fuckin' banshee."

"Don't you ever touch my brother again," Soda said dangerously, glaring at Mark would was lounging on his mattress on the floor.

Mark glared right back at him. "I do what I want. I've been here the longest so this is my room. Ain't my fault your brother is a little bitch who forgot his blankie."

Soda had half risen from the bed with rage in his eyes when another form appeared in the doorway.

"What is the meaning of this?" Mrs. Walters demanded. She was wrapped in a robe, clearly having just crawled out of bed and there was a security guard behind her. Pony was vaguely surprised to see her. But he supposed it made sense that someone who ran a boy's home would have to stay there around the clock. They certainly couldn't be left alone.

"That kid is out of his room after hours," Mark droned placating as he indicated Soda. "That's against the rules."

"He attacked my brother," Soda shot back.

"Hey, I was just sleepin' when your brother startled me with all his screamin'," Mark said innocently. "Not my fault if I accidently nudged him. It's a small room after all."

"It is far too late for this nonsense," Mrs. Walters said angrily. "You. Curtis boy." She pointed at Soda. "You will have detention tomorrow while the rest of the boys have their time outside in the yard."

"That's not fair, Soda didn't do anythin'," Pony spoke up.

"Not another word or you'll be joining him," Mrs. Walters said. "All of you back to bed. Now."

Soda hesitated at Pony's side and Pony could see that Mrs. Walters was about to get much angrier. He didn't want Soda to get into any more trouble because of him. "It's okay," he assured his brother quietly. "I'll be fine."

Soda sighed with defeat before he stood and stalked back out of the room. Mrs. Walters reached over and turned the light back off before disappearing back into the hallway. Slowly Pony lay back in bed, trying to get himself situated.

"You're brother's got a lot of nerve, twerp," came Mark's low voice out of the darkness. "He better watch himself. I've been here for eight years. That's longer than some of the guards here. I own this place. Make sure you remember that."

Pony felt a shiver run through his body. As if they didn't have enough to deal with right now. He rolled over to face the wall again and curled in on himself protectively. He wouldn't let himself go to sleep though. He didn't trust himself. All he wanted to do was get through this whole thing in one piece. All he wanted was to go home to Darry.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** Alright, just some quick clarifications on timing so that none of you get lost. This chapter starts off right where the last one left off, four days after Darry's accident. This chapter will end at the point where Darry is waking up in the hospital a little over a week later. The timeline will even out a lot after that and there won't be as many time jumps. Hopefully it's not too confusing! But I really enjoyed this particular chapter so I hope you do too, even if it's a little lengthy. Please review! :)

**Chapter Six**

**Tuesday, September 27**

"Pony, you look exhausted."

It was the next morning and Pony and Soda sat in the cafeteria picking at a breakfast of runny eggs, burnt toast and sour tasting orange juice. They had picked a spot at the far end of the room, as secluded a spot as they could get given how crowded the home was. Pony was hunched over in his chair with his head resting in one hand as he moved the runny eggs around his plate with his plastic fork.

"I didn't sleep well," Pony mumbled, not looking up at Soda but still able to tell that his face showed concern.

"You know you'll have to sleep eventually, right?" Soda pointed out.

"I know," Pony snapped, looking up at Soda who looked surprised at his sharp tone. "But what was I supposed to do?"

Soda paused and then sighed. "Yeah, I know," he admitted. He frowned down at his less than appetizing breakfast and as he watched him Pony couldn't help but think of Darry's chocolate cakes. "I'm sorry, Pony."

"Sorry for what?" Pony asked quizzically.

"That I couldn't do more for you last night," Soda said flatly.

"Hey, if I didn't have nightmares like a little kid…" Pony said darkly, letting the thought hang.

"Don't think like that, Ponyboy," Soda said firmly, looking him in the eyes.

Pony just shrugged but didn't reply. He wasn't sure how else he was supposed to think but he just let the subject drop. It wasn't really something he wanted to talk about. He felt jittery and moody and knew if he kept talking about it he was just going to get more worked up and Soda didn't need him biting his head off. He also knew that a big part of the reason for his mood was because he hadn't had a cigarette since yesterday at the hospital. It already seemed like a lifetime ago.

Pony let his gaze fall back down to his plate before he asked his next question. "How do you think Darry's doin'?"

"I dunno," Soda murmured dismally. Clearly he had been trying hard not to think about that. "I'm sure Two-Bit and Steve are lookin' after him."

"Yeah," Pony agreed, though it didn't make him feel much better. None of that would matter if Darry never woke up.

As breakfast ended Pony and Soda both dumped most of their food into the trash, not having much of an appetite for it. They followed the crowd of kids out of the cafeteria, as they had no idea where to go next. As a group they headed down the hall and then entered the room that Mrs. Walters had pointed out as the study hall the day before.

The study hall room didn't look like much. There were desks strewn randomly around the rather large room, most with graffiti scribbled on them, some of them even tipped over. There were a few adults in the room that Pony assumed were supposed to be the tutors, but they didn't look very interested in the boys as they sat at the front of the room and flipped through magazines and talked among themselves. There was a bookshelf with textbooks along one wall and after surveying the chaotic room Pony wandered over to it. Upon closer inspection he was able to find the history textbook from his current class, though the cover had been ripped off. Clearly not many of the boys here had much interest in actually studying and apparently the staff didn't push much for it.

Soda didn't look twice at any of the books and instead just led Pony over to an area near the front of the room. There were a handful of other boys who actually seemed interested in studying gathered at desks up near the tutors. The rest were in the back, throwing things and yelling at each other and just generally horsing around. Pony picked a seat just on the outskirts of the boys who were studying and Soda took a desk next to him, though the desk with shifted to the side so that he could see both the tutors and the group of boys in the back. He leaned back in his chair lazily, looking disinterested as he gazed around the room.

Pony flipped through the worn history book until he found a chapter he didn't recognize. It was a bit difficult to read it with all the graffiti, but somehow he managed to pull a few concepts out of it. As time went on he became absorbed in his task, glad for something as familiar as studying. He thought of how proud Darry would be if he knew.

"Pony!" Pony was startled out of his concentration by Soda's sharp voice. But before he even had a chance to figure out what it meant he was suddenly pulled right out of his seat. A split second later the desk he had been sitting in was knocked over as two boys who were wrestling and shouting at each other slammed into it. He looked up at Soda who had quickly pulled him out of the way and was now watching the fight with hard look on his face that bordered angry, almost as if he wanted to belt them himself. The place was already wearing on both of their nerves and Pony felt uneasy knowing that when Soda got angry he could easily lose control.

A few minutes later a couple of security guards finally came in to break up the fight. Pony watched as Soda's hands, which had been balled up in tight fists, slowly loosened. Silently he moved forward and pulled Pony's desk back upright. Pony tracked down the history textbook that had skidded away and sat back down, though he found it much more difficult to concentrate now.

They returned to the cafeteria for lunch, which was just about as appetizing as breakfast. Afterwards it was announced that it was time for exercise in the yard. Pony was excited at first thinking that he'd finally get a chance to smoke, but then his stomach quickly fell as he remembered that Soda had gotten detention.

"Let's just see if they remember," Soda said, reading Pony's thoughts.

Together they headed toward a back door with the rest of the crowd. For a minute it didn't look like anyone was going to say anything about Soda. Then Mrs. Walters seemed to materialize out of nowhere just as they were stepping outside.

"Inside, Curtis," she said. "You have detention."

Soda sighed heavily. He glanced over at Pony. "Stay out of trouble, okay?" he said in an undertone.

"I will," Pony told him.

Reluctantly he headed back inside with a few other boys that Mrs. Walters had pulled out of the crowd as Pony walked outside. It was chilly out and Pony found himself wishing he had grabbed his jacket from upstairs like it looked like some of the other boys had done. With a quick survey of the yard he saw that many of the boys were blatantly smoking and no one seemed concerned about it, so Pony immediately pulled out his own pack. He lit up as he walked across the fenced in yard, inhaling deeply and feeling the calming smoke enter his lungs. He settled himself into a far corner and watched the other boys. There was a basketball hoop on one end and a group was playing a contact version of the game. Most of the other kids were just milling around in small groups. Pony suddenly felt very isolated standing over by himself, but somehow that didn't really bother him in this situation. He managed to pass most of the time in solitude and he found that vaguely comforting at this point.

"Hey! Twerp!" Pony physically winced at the sound of the voice. He turned to see Mark walking over toward him with three other guys in tow. He felt his stomach drop. "What's a matter? Little baby can't socialize without big brother to protect him?"

"Leave me alone," Pony mumbled.

"No," Mark said simply. "You're too much fun, fresh meat."

Pony took a long drag off his cigarette. "You better leave me alone, or-"

"Or what?" Mark cut him off, suddenly getting right in his face. Pony tried to back up but ran into the chain linked fence behind him. "You gonna go cry to big brother?" Then he reached out and shoved him.

Without really thinking Pony lunged forward and shoved him back. Mark stumbled back into his friends and paused before a cruel smile spread over his face. "Bad move, newbie."

Before Pony could so much as blink he was pinned up against the fence by two of Mark's friends. He struggled, but they were both much older than him and definitely stronger. Mark stepped out and slugged him hard in the stomach, knocking all the air out of him in a pained hiss. He punched him several more times and the hit him hard in the face, sending spots across his vision as he cried out loudly.

"Hey!" He heard a loud, booming voice. Suddenly the guys on either side of him were gone and he was slumping to the ground gasping for breath. He blinked around and saw that one of the security guards had run over and pulled Mark away from him and was pushing him across the yard.

Pony didn't bother getting up. He had lost his cigarette in the fray so he pulled out his pack and took out another even though he only had precious few left. He was shaking slightly as he lit up. He breathed deeply, willing his nerves to calm.

Finally it was time to go back inside. Pony actually felt relieved. He was hurrying back into the home, immediately looking around for Soda. Suddenly he felt very insecure being on his own. It appeared to be free time, so the hallways were chaotic with kids running everywhere. Pony felt a bit panicked as he struggled to locate his brother. Finally he headed upstairs. The room Soda was staying in was empty, and as he headed down the hall to the rec room he found that he wasn't there either. He was standing there wondering where else he could be when he heard the familiar voice.

"Pony!"

Pony felt relief wash over him. He turned and saw Soda making his way down the hall. Pony hurried over to him.

"Where were you?" Pony demanded.

"I was in the study hall room," Soda told him. Then he got a good look at him and gave a start. "What happened?"

Pony gingerly touched the throbbing spot just under his eye. He figured he probably had a pretty good shiner at this point.

"Nothin'," Pony mumbled, looking down at the ground.

Soda grabbed his chin and carefully lifted it back up to get a good look at him. "It sure as hell ain't nothin'. Someone belted you good."

"It's not a big deal," Pony said, trying to sound like he believed that.

"Who did it?" Soda demanded. "Was it that guy from your room? Mark? I swear to God, I'll-"

"No," Pony said quickly cutting off his threat. "Please Soda, just leave it. I don't want you gettin' in anymore trouble 'cause of me."

"Pony…" Soda said reluctantly.

"_Please_, Soda," Pony pleaded. "Don't make a big deal about this. I don't want you to get detention again and make me go back out there by myself."

Pony knew that logic would get him and was satisfied when Soda sighed in defeat. "Yeah, okay," he finally admitted. "Let's go see if we can find you some ice for that eye."

XxXxX

_**Tuesday, October 4**_

Over the course of the next week Pony and Soda were able to mostly stay out of trouble. Mark tried to pick a few fights with Soda, especially out in the yard but Pony was able to pull him away every time. He didn't like how Soda had gotten punished so quickly their first night and he had noticed Mark wasn't punished at all for attacking him in the yard that day; he was simply pulled away and told to stay away from him. Which he didn't. Pony remembered what he had said that first night. _"I've been here for eight years. That's longer than some of the guards here. I own this place. Make sure you remember that." _Pony had never been one to run from a fight, but that statement had scared him and he was scared for Soda.

Pony had started staying up most nights and then taking naps during their free time in order to keep from having any more nightmares. He had been horrified that first night and wasn't eager to repeat the experience. He and Soda would sit on the floor at one side of the rec room and Pony would lay with his head in Soda's lap as he slept. It was the only way he was able to sleep soundly.

They had been in the home for a little over a week before they were hit by another huge shift in their now unstable lives.

"Ponyboy Curtis? Can I see you please?" The voice floated to them over the noise as everyone was heading into the cafeteria for lunch that day.

Pony looked over at Mrs. Walters wearily. If she came to give them news about Darry she wouldn't just ask for Pony when Soda was standing right next to him. Pony shared a nervous glance with Soda, who had apparently come to the same conclusion that this wasn't a good sign. Soda instinctually moved closer to him.

"I'll come too," he said firmly, looking Mrs. Walters in the eyes.

Mrs. Walters sighed, though she didn't look surprised. "I'd really rather speak with Ponyboy privately."

"Pony?" Soda said, looking over at him.

"I'm not going without Soda," Pony said defiantly.

"Alright," Mrs. Walters said reluctantly, clearly not pleased. That made Pony even more nervous. "Come with me."

Pony stuck close to Soda as they followed Mrs. Walters away from the crowd of kids making their way to the cafeteria. Pony figured they were going to her office and was confused when they walked right by it. He was getting a real uneasy feeling in his stomach and by the look on Soda's face he could tell that he was too. Mrs. Walters finally stopped as they reached the front door of the home. There were two security guards by the entrance as usual and the whole thing suddenly felt very sinister to Pony.

"I have good news for you, Ponyboy," Mrs. Walters said, forcing a smile at him. "We were able to place you in a foster home."

The statement caught Pony by surprised. He glanced at his brother who suddenly looked tense, clearly grasping the situation quicker than Pony. "What about Soda?" Pony asked.

Mrs. Walters glanced at Soda uncomfortably before focusing back on Pony. "Older boys tend to be much more difficult to place, which is why most of them end up just staying here," she explained. "It's not the ideal solution though, so we try and place as many boys as we can."

"Wait…" Pony said slowly as he began to wrap his head around what was really going on. "So Soda's gonna stay here… and I'm gonna go somewhere else?"

"That's correct," she confirmed. "I know it's not ideal in your mind, but I think this will be very good for you, Ponyboy. We're overcrowded here as it is, so you'll get more space and you'll get to go back to a regular school."

Pony shook his head vigorously. "I ain't goin' anywhere without Soda." Pony looked up at Soda for support, but was surprised to see that he was hesitating, looking conflicted. "Right Soda?"

Soda turned so that his back was to Mrs. Walters, leading Pony a step away. "Maybe it would be a good thing," Soda said in a low voice. Pony gave a start. This hadn't been the reaction he was expecting. "Maybe it would be good for you to get away from here and away from Mark and his guys."

Pony openly stared in disbelief. "Soda, no, please," he said, a hint of pleading in his voice. "I… please. It sucks here but I don't wanna go somewhere without you. We're the only family we got left…"

Soda looked at him for a moment before he nodded. "You're right," he said. "Sorry, kiddo, guess I wasn't thinkin'."

Pony let out a sigh of relief. He understood that Soda was trying to protect him, but at least they knew what they were up against here and at least they had each other. There was no telling what kind of foster home they would send Pony to.

They turned back to Mrs. Walters. "He ain't goin'," Soda said firmly.

"This is not up for discussion," Mrs. Walters said stiffly.

"You're right," Soda agreed easily. "Cause he ain't goin'."

"Yes he is," Mrs. Walters said. "The arrangements have already been made."

Pony suddenly realized that his bag was already packed and sitting by the door. Soda seemed to notice that too as his anger flared. "What were you gonna do, take him away without even tellin' me?" he demanded.

"We didn't want a scene," Mrs. Walters said.

"Well you're gonna get one," Soda said loudly, stepping in front of Pony protectively as the security guards started making their way over to them. His face was set, all traces of doubt completely gone. They had already lost Darry, even though they still hoped it wasn't permanent, they couldn't lose each other too.

"I ain't goin' anywhere without Soda," Pony declared as he grabbed onto Soda's arm for security.

"It's already been decided," Mrs. Walters said, starting to get angry.

"I don't give a _damn_ what you _think_ you've decided," Soda shot back harshly. "You're not takin' my brother."

"Step away, son," one of the security guards said firmly.

"Make me," Soda growled dangerously with a hard glare.

Apparently both security guards took this as a challenge or perhaps they took it as a threat. One moved forward and grabbed Soda, forcibly yanking him away as the other took hold of Pony and pulled him in the other direction. This only fueled Soda's anger.

"Get off of me!" Soda yelled as he struggled hard against the security guard's grip. As his temper flared he spun and threw a punch at the guy. He was much bigger than Soda, and didn't appear phased much by the attack, but he immediately retaliated by throwing Soda face down on the floor and pinning his arms up against his back as he dug a knee into his lower back to keep him down. Pony froze and could only stare, shocked at what had just happened.

"That's assault son!" the man growled. "I could press charges and you could go to jail!"

Soda coughed a dry laugh even as he was pinned down and still struggling to get free. "You call _that _assault?"

The security guard glared at him as he twisted Soda's arms further up his back, causing Soda to clench his jaw in an obvious attempt to keep from crying out in pain.

"Stop!" Pony yelled, horrified at what he was witnessing. He shook himself out of his shock as he began struggling against the man who held him, but to no avail. "Stop! Please, you're hurting him!"

"Will you come with me now?" Mrs. Walters asked, unnervingly calm like what was going on was totally normal.

"Yes, please, just let him go," Pony begged. He was on the verge of panicking as he blinked tears from his eyes.

"You have to come with me first," Mrs. Walters said.

Pony felt his stomach drop as he looked over at Soda, still struggling on the floor as the guard tightened his grip even more. Pony was really afraid he might pull Soda's shoulder out of socket. He already had a bad shoulder from when he had torn a ligament when he used to ride in the rodeo. Soda had to be in more pain than he was letting on. Pony suddenly felt like he had the power to stop this, but he still hesitated. It hurt that he couldn't even have a proper goodbye with his brother. They had taken even that from him.

He took a breath and summoned his courage as he turned from Soda and hurried over to where his bag sat. He picked it up and with one last pained glance at Soda pinned to the ground he followed Mrs. Walters out the front door, with the other security guard following closely behind him. As the door closed behind them Pony wanted nothing more than to burst into tears, but he couldn't do that in front of strangers. So he bit the inside of his cheek hard as he fought for composure. It was difficult to do though. He suddenly felt like he had lost everything. First they were taken away from Darry. Then he was taken away from Soda. He had no one left. How was he supposed to go through all this by himself? He had never been completely on his own like this before. Even when he had run to Windrixville he had Johnny there with him. Now he had no one, he was isolated from the entire gang.

He was hardly aware as he was introduced to the social worker who would be taking him to the foster home. He wondered vaguely where Ms. Daniels was. He climbed into the back seat of the car without a word, slamming the door behind him and then staring dismally out the window. He couldn't imagine how this could possible get any worse.

**Author's Note:**Okay, now before I get a bunch of angry reviews about how Soda was treated in the boy's home, please keep in mind that this is the 60s. Physical discipline such as paddling and lashings in schools were very normal and well accepted. The concept of child abuse wasn't well defined. Also the social services system wasn't what it is today. In homes for "troubled youth" physical punishments were expected and in some cases even overdone. One particular case that I found was the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Florida, which was actually known for its horrific conditions. As I read about it I found almost as horrific as the Vietnamese POW camps that I am also researching for another story. This incident with Soda was very minor compared to that.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** Sorry this chapter is a little late, guys! It has been a crazy week. But I am up far too late on a work night to get this finished for you!

Okay, quick note about the timeline: I've been doing a lot of number crunching with figuring out exactly what this timeline looks like and realized that really I should have been working with specific dates this whole time and it would have been a lot easier for me to keep track as well as for you readers. From here on out I am going to be putting dates at the beginning of each chapter. Just so you know where I'm working from, I am using a 1966 calendar (because that's the mid-sixties one that had dates that lined up with days of the week that I needed them to, haha) and in my world the events from the book take place at the end of August (I know it more likely takes place in September but I needed to back it up a bit in order to get my timeline to work. You'll see why.)

I'm going to try and go back and add dates to the previous chapters at some point, but so you know here is where we stand as of right now: Darry's accident takes place on September 23, about a month after the events of the book. Soda and Pony go to the boy's home on September 26. Pony gets sent to the foster home on October 4. Darry wakes up from his coma on October 5.

I know I should have been utilizing this solid calendar idea from the beginning… but live and learn! Haha. Please don't forget to review and let me know what you think!

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**Chapter Seven**

_Monday, October 10__th_

It had been seventeen days since Darry had his accident at work. Darry had spent twelve of those days unconscious. This had completely warped his sense of time. He kept on having to remind himself that Pony and Soda hadn't just been gone a few days, social services had taken them away exactly two weeks ago now. He had a hard time wrapping his head around that amount of time and often Two-Bit or Steve had to carefully remind him of that fact.

It was late afternoon and both Two-Bit and Steve were there with him. Darry always felt a little more at ease when they were around even though he still desperately wished his brothers were there too. His bed was tilted up so that he was in a sitting position which had become normal since he had become more and more awake and alert over the past few days. His head was pounding dully though as he did his best to ignore it and follow Two-Bit story about a fight he got into at school. His story was interrupted as a nurse entered the room.

"Darrel," the nurse said with a pleasant smile. "You have a visitor."

Darry felt his heart leap up into his throat as he allowed himself for half a second to believe that his brothers had been allowed to come visit him. He couldn't think of many other people who would be visiting since Steve and Two-Bit were already here. His hopes didn't last long though as the nurse stepped aside and Darry's boss, Mr. Hubor, walked into the room.

"Hey Curtis," Mr. Hubor said with a strained smile.

"Hi Mr. Hubor," Darry said, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice.

"We're gonna head down to the cafeteria to get somethin' to eat," Two-Bit said, standing up and nudging Steve to do the same, clearly wanting to give them some privacy. "You want anythin', Darry?"

"No, I'm okay," Darry answered.

Two-Bit only nodded and he and Steve turned and left the room. Mr. Hubor walked more fully into the room, looking a bit awkward and unsure. It wasn't often that they had seen each other outside of the work environment. It was certainly a bit of a strange situation, but Darry knew that Mr. Hubor was a good guy. Darry had known Mr. Hubor for a long time. His dad had worked for him for fifteen years before he had died. Darry had already been working for him for a few months before his father had passed, trying to save up some money for college. Mr. Hubor had always been a very understanding boss, especially when it came to Darry's newfound guardian responsibilities. It had never been a problem when he had needed time off for his brothers, even when he had taken three days off when Pony was sick and in and out of the hospital after Johnny and Dally had died.

"How are you feelin'?" Mr. Hubor asked as he sat in one of the vacated chairs next to his bed.

"Better," Darry said. "I'm hopin' to be able to go home in another couple days." He knew full well that going home was going to be bittersweet. He was tired of being stuck in the hospital day and night, but he was also dreading being in that house without his brothers. But he knew that as soon as he was home he could start working to get Pony and Soda home as well. Only then would they be able to put this whole thing behind them.

"Glad to hear it," Mr. Hubor said. A smile flashed across his face, but in the next moment it was gone again. "I came to visit you a week or so ago… but you weren't awake yet."

"I only just woke up this past Wednesday," Darry told him. "It's been real disorientin' but I've been gettin' better."

Mr. Hubor nodded. "What about Ponyboy and Sodapop?" he asked. "How are they holdin' up with all this?"

Darry sighed. Clearly he didn't know what had happened and Darry hated having to explain it. "I dunno," he said. "The state took them away two weeks ago while I was still unconscious. I haven't been able to have any contact with them yet."

Mr. Hubor looked very distressed at this news. "I'm real sorry to hear that, Curtis."

"I'm gonna petition to get them back as soon as I get out of here," Darry said. "They won't even talk about it until I'm out of the hospital though."

"They'd be stupid not to give them back to you," Mr. Hubor said. "The stories I've heard about the system… they're much better off with you."

Darry nodded slowly, taking care not to move his head too quickly. He had heard horror stories about boy's homes and foster care over the years as well, which is why he had worked so hard to keep his brothers out of that. Despite all his efforts they had ended up there anyway, which was beyond frustrating to him and more than that it was scary considering what he's heard about those places. He was trying very hard not to think about those horror stories though. He was just trying to focus on getting his brothers back.

"Look, Curtis, I am real sorry about all this." Something about the way Mr. Hubor said it made Darry look at him funny, like it was meant as more than just a sympathetic apology.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, this happened at work, and it shouldn't have," Mr. Hubor said remorsefully. "I want you to know that the guy who knocked you off the roof was immediately fired. And I also want you to know that we are gonna talk about some compensation for all of this as soon as you get back to work."

It took Darry a minute to figure out how to react to the last part of this statement. It certainly hadn't been something he was expecting. "Thank you, sir," he finally said sincerely, feeling a weight lifting off his shoulders. "That'll be a huge help."

"It's not a problem," he assured him. "As soon as the doctor clears you, you call me up and we'll get you back workin', okay? And don't try callin' before the doc says it's okay. Remember, if you hurt yourself worse, you won't be any use to Pony and Soda. They need you to be healthy."

Darry smiled lightly. "Yeah, thanks."

"I'll talk to you soon, Curtis," Mr. Hubor said, standing up.

"Thanks for comin' by," Darry told him.

Mr. Hubor nodded at him before turning and walking from the room. Darry felt comforted by the visit, assured that he still had a job and he was even going to have help with the hospital bills from the compensation. He knew he needed to get things as close to the way they were before the accident as he could in order to get his brothers back. He had been discouraged after talking with the social worker the other day, but suddenly it seemed a lot more plausible. Suddenly it looked like something would finally work in his favor.

It was another half hour before Steve and Two-Bit finally returned.

"Hey, your boss leave already?" Two-Bit said, stating the obvious as he and Steve sat back down in their usual seats.

"Yeah, he didn't stay long," Darry said. "He just stopped by to see how I was doin'."

"He say anythin' about the accident?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, the guy who knocked me down got fired," he said.

"Good," Steve said. "Damn jackass deserved that."

"And he also mentioned some compensation for the accident," Darry said, smiling lightly at the thought.

"Damn right they should compensate you!" Steve asserted. "This whole thing is all their fault!"

"Yeah, well that's gonna be a huge help with me gettin' custody back. Who knows, maybe this time next week Pony and Soda could be home." He knew it was a little bit of an optimistic stretch, but it was still a nice thought. But as he thought about it suddenly he paused, feeling confused. Something was slowly dawning on him, something he hadn't thought of before. "What day is it?" he asked slowly, looking over at Steve and Two-Bit.

"Monday," Two-Bit said.

"The date," Darry clarified. "What's the date?"

Steve and Two-Bit exchanged a glance. "It's October tenth," Two-Bit finally said.

Darry felt his stomach fall. "October tenth?" he asked, distressed. "Are you sure?" His accident had happened on September twenty-third, so it was hard to get his head around the fact that it was now October. But surely it wasn't that late in October. Even as he tried to tell himself that he knew that the math worked out. He had been unconscious for twelve days after all.

"Yeah," Steve confirmed. "It is."

"We didn't know if we should say anythin'… you know, the other day," Two-Bit said slowly, knowing exactly what Darry was thinking about. "We figured that it would just upset you."

Darry was quiet, not knowing how to respond to that. He was definitely upset. On October eighth, two days ago, Soda had turned seventeen years old. He had missed Soda's birthday, the thought hadn't even crossed his mind on the actual day. Suddenly he was consumed with guilt. How could he forget his own brother's birthday? Sure he was still struggling with his sense of time but he still felt like somehow he should have known, he should have sensed it somehow. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew how silly that sounded though.

"We'll just have to party extra hard when Soda gets back," Steve spoke up.

Darry looked over at him, a little surprised by his sudden change in attitude. He wasn't usually the optimistic one and had been doubtful at best at the idea of getting Pony and Soda back this whole time. But it said something about how Darry looked upon coming to the realization that he had missed Soda's birthday that even Steve was trying to cheer him up.

"Steve's right," Two-Bit said, perking up and doing his best to grin. "We'll throw a real big party for Soda when he gets back to make up for not being able to party on his actual birthday."

Darry strained to smile, only feeling marginally better. "Yeah, I'm sure he'd like that. Him and Pony both."

Two-Bit and Steve went on to talk about the particulars of the birthday party they were going to throw for Soda, but Darry was barely listening. His mind was still on the fact that he had forgotten about Soda's birthday. It was bad enough that Soda had to spend his birthday in a boy's home somewhere. But this was his first birthday since their parents had passed away last spring. More than ever they should have been together on that particular occasion just like they were for Pony's birthday in June.

"D'you think if I called they'd let me talk to him?" Darry thought out loud, interrupting whoever had been talking.

There was a short pause. "I dunno why not," Two-Bit said optimistically.

Darry clung to this thought like a life raft. The idea of getting to hear Soda or Pony's voice was something he just couldn't brush aside, he had to at least try. He shifted up in bed before slowly moving his legs around to hit the floor. Slowly and while ignoring Two-Bit's offered hand Darry pulled himself to his feet. He had some slight vertigo, but was able to stand steady enough and after just a few second the dizzy spell seemed to pass. He started out into the hallway with Two-Bit and Steve on his heels as he headed for the nurse's station.

"Mr. Curtis, you're not supposed to be out of bed," one of the nurses said immediately as she spotted him.

Darry rolled his eyes at being told what to do. He wasn't a child. "I need to make a phone call," he said bluntly.

The nurse gave him an indignant look but seemed to think better then to argue with him. She simply reached for the phone and placed it on the counter within his reach. As he went to dial he found that he couldn't remember what the number for social services was. He was usually pretty good at remembering things like that. He shook off the feeling though and managed to spot the form the nurse had showed him the other day with the number at the top. He punched in the number and waited impatiently. The line rang an annoying amount of times before someone finally picked up. He asked for Ms. Daniels and waited impatiently to be transferred.

"This is Sandra Daniels."

"Hello Ms. Daniels, it's Darrel Curtis," Darry said.

"Hello Darrel," Ms. Daniels said, not sounding terribly surprised this time. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," Darry said. "Almost back to normal. I hope to be able to go home in the next few days."

"Good, I'm glad to hear that," Ms. Daniels said. "What can I do for you today?"

"I have kinda a favor to ask," he said slowly. "Would there be any way that I could get the phone number for the boy's home that Pony and Soda are in?"

Ms. Daniels hesitated. "Well, I'm not really supposed to…" she said, letting the thought hang. Darry felt his heart fall slightly.

"I just… it was Soda's birthday the other day," Darry said, a note of pleading in his voice. He leaned heavily on the counter in front of him. "With everything that's been goin' on it kinda slipped through the cracks." He paused and heard Ms. Daniels still hesitating. "It's his first birthday since our parents passed. Please, I just want to be able to wish my brother a happy birthday even if it's a little late."

Ms. Daniels sighed in defeat. When she spoke again it was in a slightly hushed tone as if she were hoping to keep someone from overhearing. "Okay, if you promise not to tell anyone where you got it from, I'll give you the phone number. But understand that the head of the home may or may not let you talk to them."

"Okay," Darry said eagerly. He grabbed a pen and wrote down the number on the edge of a random form on the counter as she read it off to him. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome," she said. "Good luck, Darrel."

"Thanks," Darry said again before he hung up, feeling hopeful. He immediately lifted the receiver again and quickly punched in the new number and waited.

"Mary Walters." The woman's voice that came over the line sounded very strict and a little like she was only half listening as she was doing something else.

"Is this the boy's home?" Darry asked slowly, feeling a little confused that she didn't say as much when he answered the phone.

"Yes," Mrs. Walter said, sounding bored. "What do you want?"

"Um, I was wondering if I could speak with Sodapop and Ponyboy Curtis," Darry said, a little thrown by how blunt she was being.

"With who?" she asked.

Darry raised an eyebrow. If nothing else, Pony and Soda's names were hard to forget or overlook. "Sodapop and Ponyboy Curtis," he repeated a little slower. "They were placed in the boy's home about two weeks ago."

"Who's this?" Now she sounded suspicious.

"This is Darrel Curtis," he said. "I'm their older brother."

"Ah, the Curtis boys," Mrs. Walters said slowly, realization in her voice. "I am not authorized to aid in contact between any of the boys here with anyone outside the facility without proper approval."

"It was my brother Sodapop's birthday the other day," Darry tried, though he didn't have much hope going by her tone. "I just want to talk to him for a minute to wish him a happy birthday. And I thought I could talk to Ponyboy real quick too."

"Ponyboy Curtis was transferred to a foster home almost a week ago," she said as if the fact were obvious. Darry suddenly froze, his eyes wide at this news. "In any case, I will not allow you to speak with Sodapop without proper approval directly from the state. Now goodbye."

Darry was only aware that she had hung up on him after the line had been dead for several minutes.

"Darry?" Two-Bit prompted as Darry slowly placed the receiver back on the cradle. He seemed to take in the look on his face. "I guess it didn't go well?"

"She said Pony was sent to a foster home a week ago," he said, sounding stunned.

"What do you mean?" Two-Bit asked, confused.

"They split them up," Darry said, looking over at both him and Steve. "Soda is still in the boy's home and Pony is in a foster home somewhere."

"Did she say which boy's home he's at?" Steve asked quickly.

"Uh, no she never said," Darry said, realizing the answer only as he spoke it. Steve looked disappointed, but Darry was still stuck on this new piece of information. "They split them up," he repeated, still having a hard time believing it. "They're not even together. I just figured they'd be together."

"C'mon, Darry," Two-Bit said carefully. "You should get back to bed."

Darry allowed Two-Bit to lead him back to his room and he climbed back into bed. Up until now he had been taking comfort in the fact that even if his brothers weren't here with him at least they had each other. It had never even crossed his mind that they could be separated. Even more disturbing was that suddenly he was realizing that not only could he not have been with Soda on his birthday, but Pony couldn't either. So Soda was by himself at the boy's home for his seventeenth birthday.

Their family was more broken than he had originally thought. It now seemed even more urgent that Darry get custody of both his brothers back as soon as possible, not only to reunite him with his younger brothers, but to reunite Soda and Pony as well.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:** Here we go, moving right along, haha. Just a forewarning, I'm fairly sleep deprived at this point (you'll see the irony of that statement by the end of this chapter) but hopefully you still enjoy this chapter. I appreciate any and all reviews!

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**Chapter Eight**

_Wednesday, October 12__th_

At long last Darry was finally being released from the hospital. It was almost three weeks since the original accident. The relief that Darry felt getting out of that bed and knowing that he wouldn't be going back to it was immense. Of course he immediately had to sit in a wheelchair and be wheeled out of the hospital, making him feel like an invalid all over again. But it was hospital policy so he couldn't fight it. Two-Bit walked with him down to the front doors where Steve was waiting with his car.

"Thanks for the ride," Darry said as he carefully slid into the front seat. He had been walking around pretty regularly in the hospital the past few days so he was pretty steady, but it was still a bit disorienting to finally be back out in the real world.

"No problem, man," Steve said with a shrug.

"It'll be good to have you home," Two-Bit spoke up as he slid into the backseat, slamming the door closed behind him.

"Yeah," Darry said not looking at him, his tone a bit flat. He was happy to finally be going home… but at the same time he was dreading it.

As they drove, Darry stared out the window, watching the familiar scenery slide by. He suddenly remembered bringing Pony home from the hospital almost two months ago now after he had gotten sick after both Johnny and Dallas had died. He had seemed so young when he had been alternating between unconscious and delirious especially when he had been in the hospital and hooked up to an IV. And Darry had been so scared for him when he had been in the hospital, almost as much as he had been when he was missing. In a way it like he was missing all over again. And this time Soda was too, making it all that much worse.

As they pulled up in front of the house the first thing that Darry noticed was that his truck with in the driveway. He wondered vaguely how it had gotten there since last he had known it had been at the job site.

His staring must have been apparent. "I went and got it a few days after the accident," Two-Bit spoke up, almost reading his thoughts as he indicated the truck.

"Thanks," Darry said.

He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm his nerves and as pulled himself up out of the car. He started up the walk, noting how the grass was overgrown. It badly needed to be mowed. Soda used to do most of the mowing because Darry was usually too sore from work to do it and Pony usually had homework to do. He climbed the porch steps, hearing the familiar squeaks of the steps. The front door swung open easily, unlocked as usual.

Inside the house was dark and quiet. Darry immediately flipped on the living room light, but it didn't seem to help matters. Somehow the light just made it seem emptier. He did his best not to dwell on that though. If he thought about it too much then he was afraid he was going to lose it. He checked his watch. Since he had to wait for a ride from Steve and Two-Bit after they got out of school it was later in the day. It was too late to call social services today; he would have to call them first thing in the morning to set up an appointment. He tried to tell himself it was no big deal, it was just one more day, but he couldn't get rid of this nagging feeling that every single day counted and this was just another one wasted.

Without saying a word, mostly because he didn't know what to say, Darry headed for the kitchen to take assessment of any food that might be left in the house. He didn't look around too much he headed right for the icebox, hit by a powerfully sour smell as he opened it. Most of what was in there was expired and moldy by now. He had known that was probably going to be the case but he couldn't help but feel disappointed thinking of all the wasted money in the expired food. They really needed every cent they could get. Grudgingly, Darry grabbed a trash bag from the closet and started tossing things away. By the time he was done there wasn't much left.

"Got anythin' left for dinner?" Two-Bit asked. Darry turned to see him leaning in the doorway, eyeing his full bag of garbage. "We could go out, you know? My treat."

"You don't have any money," Darry pointed out as he opened the back door and placed the bag on the back step, mostly just to get the smell out of the house. He let the door slam closed again.

"Who said I was gonna pay?" Two-Bit said with a laugh.

Darry rolled his eyes. They he paused for a moment. Something suddenly seemed off. He gazed around the kitchen, but everything looked normal enough. Then his eyes fell on the empty sink and it clicked.

"Have you guys been in here lately?" he asked slowly.

"No, not since the accident," Two-Bit said, cocking an eyebrow. "Why?"

Darry walked over to the sink, looking down at it as memories flooded back to him. "Pony and Soda were both late gettin' up that morning," he said quietly, reminiscing about the last time he had seen his brothers. "I remember we didn't have time to do the dishes so I just dumped them in the sink and was gonna do them after work." The door had been unlocked so Darry knew that guys who crashed there from time to time had probably come and gone, but he couldn't think of one of them that would bother themselves with the dishes.

"Huh, that's weird," Two-Bit said as he walked more fully into the kitchen to get a better look. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Darry said steadily. Then very suddenly he turned and blew by Two-Bit, heading out of the room and down the hall. As he came to a stop outside the open door of his brothers' bedroom he was hit by a suddenly wave of dizziness and had to reach out and grab the door frame to keep from toppling over.

"Whoa there, Darry." Two-Bit's voice floated to him through the haze and he felt his hand on his shoulder. "You still gotta take it easy, man."

"Yeah, Darry," came Steve's voice. "You ain't gonna be goin' out for track anytime soon."

"Yeah, I know," he said, thinking that was a poor analogy that only reminded him of Pony. But of course Steve didn't think like that. Slowly his vision refocused as he looked into his brothers' bedroom. At a glance it looked exactly the same as the last time he had seen it, even down to the blankets that had halfway fallen to the floor when Soda had finally dragged himself out of bed. But then upon closer inspection Darry noticed a drawer in the bureau left open that was empty. He took in the closet that had been left open that was emptier than it should be. "Ms. Daniels must have brought them back here first. They at least got to pack up some things."

"You think they did the dishes before they left?" Two-Bit asked.

"Yeah, I bet they did," Darry said, smiling lightly at the thought. Clearly they were hopeful that this wasn't a permanent thing when they had left. Not only had they done the dishes before they went but they also didn't take all of their clothes. Somehow that was comforting to Darry. The comforting feeling didn't last very long though. "I hope they're okay."

"I'm sure they are," Two-Bit tried to reassure him. "I mean, it's not like they went to prison. Just the boy's home."

"Yeah, but Pony's not even at the boy's home anymore," Darry reminded him. "And Soda is."

"What I don't get is how they even could separate them," Steve suddenly spoke up. "The only reason Soda didn't just take off when they came to get them was so that he could be with Pony. No way would he just let them take the kid and put him somewhere else without putting up hell of a fight."

"That's what worries me," Darry said, feeling slightly sick at the thought. After everything they had been through Darry knew without a doubt that Soda wouldn't have let Pony be taken somewhere else, and vice versa. And they fact that they had separated them anyway really said something. That combined with the less than comforting conversation he had with the head of the boy's home the other day and Darry was getting a real bad feeling about this entire system. The sooner he could get his brothers back he knew the better off they'd all be.

"Darry?" Two-Bit prompted after a few minutes of silence. "You okay?"

Slowly but decisively Darry shook his head. "No, I'm not," he said quietly. "It ain't right… it ain't right that Pony and Soda get taken away because of somethin' that happened to me. Like they're the ones bein' punished."

"Yeah, but it wasn't your fault," Two-Bit pointed out.

Darry sighed. "Not directly," he admitted. "But I coulda done more to prevent it from happening."

"What are you talkin' about?" Steve demanded.

"I was distracted that mornin'," he said. "I wasn't paying attention 'cause I was thinkin' about a fight I had with Soda that mornin'. If I had been payin' more attention I coulda had plenty of time to get out of the way. Then none of this woulda happened."

"Hey, you can't think like that," Two-Bit said, surprise in his voice. He thought something over for a minute. "And since when do you and _Soda_ fight?"

Darry rubbed his eyes tiredly. "It was stupid," was all he said on the subject. But he was surprised with who didn't want to let it drop.

"Soda was upset about that too," Steve said. Darry looked over at him sharply. "He was talkin' about that that first night in the hospital. He didn't mean it Darry."

Darry felt a fissure in the armor of his composure. "He… said that?"

"Yeah, he did," Steve said. "You guys can both apologize when he gets back."

Darry nodded, wanting so badly to believe him. Soda had to come back. He just had to. They both had to. Maybe even as he petitioned for custody he could visit his brothers. He could only hope he'd be allowed to.

"C'mon, Darry," Two-Bit said. "You look like you're about to collapse. Come back to the living room and sit down."

"Yeah, okay," Darry consented. He turned and reluctantly walked away from the room. He was vaguely aware of Two-Bit carefully closing the bedroom door as he moved down the hallway. He couldn't blame him. The room was a painful reminder of who wasn't here right now.

Back in the living room Darry fell into his recliner, feeling the familiar comfort and let it momentarily override the worry for his brothers. He couldn't continue to think about it or he was going to go insane.

"So," he said, forcing himself to change the subject. "Dinner? 'Cause we got nothin' here to eat."

"I'll go pick up somethin'," Two-Bit immediately volunteered.

"You mean lift somethin'," Steve laughed as he fell down onto the couch.

"Yeah, yeah, minor detail," Two-Bit laughed with a dismissively wave of his hand as he headed out the door.

Steve got up off the couch and flipped on the TV. Darry was grateful for the extra noise, even though he felt a dull throbbing in his head. He just had to get through the next couple days, maybe a week or two tops he figured. Then he would get his brothers back. He just had to. There wasn't any other way that this would ever be okay. He had to get them back.

XxXxX

It was later that night and both Steve and Two-Bit had reluctantly left after prodding from Darry. He didn't need to be babysat and he was tired of having people hover over him. His pride seemed less important though when he found how quiet the house could be. He left the TV on for background noise but somehow it still seemed too quiet.

As he got ready for bed he found it was awkward not wondering when his brothers were going to be home. He kept on glancing toward the front door, half expecting one of them to just walk in as if the last few weeks hadn't even happened. He had to remind himself that they weren't coming home tonight. They wouldn't be coming home until he fought to get them back. That thought was so overwhelming though. He remembered the first time he had petitioned for custody. All the questions, all the scrutiny, all the pressure. Could he really go through all that again? And this time without Soda and Pony here with him? He knew he had to though. He kept repeating that to himself. He had to in order to get his brothers back. And he would do anything to get them back.

He went to bed early that night even though he wasn't cleared by the doctor to work yet so he didn't have to get up early the next morning. He mostly did it just for something to do. After being unconscious for so long suddenly he felt like he wouldn't mind sleeping the next few days away until things were back to normal. Or at least more normal. Ironically enough though after being so tired for so long sleep just would not come. He tossed and turned for hours, unable to get comfortable in his own bed.

It was after midnight when he dragged himself out of bed. He made his way down the darkened hallway and entered the kitchen. He grabbed a glass from the cabinet and filled it with cold water from the tap. He took a few sips, staring vacantly out the kitchen window that looked out into the darkened backyard. He couldn't help but wonder where Soda and Pony were tonight. Were they lying awake too, feeling restless? Had Pony had any of his nightmares? Was anyone comforting him?

Darry abruptly placed the glass back down on the counter, doing his best to push the thoughts of his brothers out of his head, but it seemed like an impossible task. He turned and headed back for his bedroom and fell back into bed. The minutes passed, turning into hours and still he couldn't sleep. He watched the time go by feeling even more restless instead of less.

He got up again after two in the morning. But instead of heading for the kitchen this time he headed in the opposite direction. Carefully he pushed open the door to his brothers' bedroom. It was just as empty as it had been earlier today. Slowly, almost unsure, he stepped over the threshold and into the room for the first time since that last morning he had spent with his brothers. Was it his imagination or was it colder in here than it was in the rest of the house?

He skirted around the bed and approached Pony's desk. His science textbook and homework lay out in the open. He must have forgotten it when he went to school that day in their rush. He was always forgetting things. Darry found that he wasn't mad though. It was nice to see Pony's familiar handwriting and for just a moment things felt almost normal. Darry pulled out the chair and carefully sat down, staring at the empty bed. This was where his brothers were supposed to be. They should be here in their bed, not away in some boy's home or foster home. How had this happened after they had worked so hard to prevent it?

Despite himself, Darry could feel tears welling up in his eyes as the weight of the situation finally hit him hard. His brothers weren't here. He didn't even know where his brothers were tonight. They were the only family he had left. Their family had never felt so shattered before. Not only were their parents gone and not only were Soda and Pony taken away from Darry but then Pony had been taken away from Soda. There was no way for them to be more separated and isolated from each other right now.

Darry took a breath, willing himself not to fall apart. Mostly because if he allowed himself to fall apart completely he was afraid he wouldn't be able to pull himself together again. He blinked back his tears as he stood up, carefully replacing the chair where he had found it. As he walked from the room he wanted it to be as if nothing had changed. He wanted time to stand still in this room until his brothers found their way back home. He shut the door securely behind him.

Instead of heading back to his own room Darry walked down the hallway to the living room. He didn't bother with any lights. He flipped on the radio since he knew there was nothing on TV but the test pattern at this late hour. He kept the radio on low because he was starting to develop another headache but it was still nice to have the noise. He sat down in his recliner and leaned back, trying to make himself comfortable.

He knew that however long it took to get Soda and Pony back was going to feel twice as long to him. He could only hope that wherever they were now they were safe and healthy. He hoped that he would get to talk to them soon so that he could assure them that they would be home soon. He would make sure of it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

_Thursday, October 13__th_

The next day Darry woke up very suddenly. It took him several minutes to figure out his surroundings, feeling horribly disoriented. He finally figured out why. He was still sitting up in the recliner in the living room, the radio still playing from the night before. He rolled his head, trying to stretch out his stiff neck. He rubbed his eyes as he started to get up, thinking that he should probably wake Soda and Pony… before remembering that they weren't here. It was going to take a lot of getting used to in order to remember that he wasn't the one keeping track of them right now. He could only hope that it wouldn't be a feeling he'd have to get used to for long.

Slowly he lowered himself back down into his recliner, feeling a bit dizzy from moving too quickly. He put a hand on the back of his head, feeling the scar that lay just above the hairline. It itched a bit. He wondered if that was normal.

He checked the clock on the wall. It was still pretty early, but he wondered if the social services office was open by now. He'd never had any reason to know what kind of hours they kept before now. He reached over and picked the phone off the end table, quickly punching in the number that was quickly becoming second nature. He listened to it ring for several minutes before he figured that it wasn't open yet. Guess it was earlier than he thought.

As he grudgingly hung up the phone he wondered vaguely what to do next. He felt so off balance without his brothers to take care of. Even just a normal morning routine didn't seem to sit right with him right now. He tried to think of normal things that people did at this time. What would he be doing if his brothers were here? Breakfast. That seemed like a safe answer. He should make breakfast.

He slowly stood, blinking back the vertigo as he wandered into the kitchen. He started for the icebox before he remembered there wasn't anything to eat in there. Everything had gone bad and he had thrown it out the night before. He checked a loaf of bread on the counter to find that it was moldy. Finally he settled for a bowl of semi-stale, dry cereal. He would need to get to the store soon, but he didn't even know what kind of money he had right now. These were all things that needed to be dealt with, but it was just so overwhelming to think about.

He ate his breakfast slowly, trying to kill as much time as he could. He wasn't even particularly hungry; he was mostly eating out of habit. Even with the radio still on the house seemed uncomfortably quiet and empty. Every time he glanced up at the clock it seemed like it was moving far slower than it should be. Finally he decided it was time to try social services again. He headed back into the living room, sitting back in the recliner before he picked up the phone again.

After just a few rings he was relieved when someone finally answered and he was able to ask for Ms. Daniels. Unfortunately he was told that she was out of the office on home visits until the afternoon. As Darry slammed the phone back down he could feel anger rising up inside of him, even though he knew that it wasn't like she was out of the office deliberately to avoid him. He was just so frustrated with the entire situation. It just wasn't fair.

So he couldn't deal with social services until this afternoon. He couldn't go to work until next week. He didn't have his brothers here to take care of and Steve and Two-Bit would be at school all day. What was he supposed to do? He suddenly felt lost.

He tried turning on the television, but that didn't last long. TV had never held his interest like it held Pony's. He gave up on that after only twenty minutes or so. He decided that he needed to look at his finances, as much as he knew it was going to depress him. He wandered into the kitchen and found that his checkbook and financial papers were in a drawers just where he had left them weeks ago.

It seemed to take him longer than usual to crunch the numbers and he had to start over several times. He never used to get this confused with numbers before. He rubbed his forehead tiredly as he sat at the kitchen table. The familiar pounding in his head was slowly increasing with the effort of trying to organize his life. He still had some money saved up from before the accident. Not a lot, but some. If Soda and Pony were still here it might not be enough. But just for him it would last him until he could get back to work next week anyway. As he stared at the numbers he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. For just a moment he considered that maybe the state was right by taking his brothers away from him. But then he reminded himself that if they were still around they would still have Soda's paycheck. And if necessary he would skimp on everything, including food for himself if it meant keeping his brothers well fed and happy. He had never told anyone this, but when he first got custody of Soda and Pony and when they were first trying to figure out how they were going to make ends meet he had actually skipped several meals so that Soda and Pony wouldn't have to go without food.

As it were though, all he had right now was himself to support. Even though he wasn't happy about it, there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. Finally he gathered up his things and headed out of the house. He headed for the grocery store and bought just a few things to hold him over for a while. He knew he needed to save up as much as possible. As he drove his truck he went much slower that he used to, feeling how the bright sunlight only aggravated his headache.

Back home it took no time at all to put away the groceries. He made himself a sandwich for lunch, doing his best not to look at the clock in order to try and make time go faster. He even played with the idea of taking the clock down off the wall altogether. It certainly wasn't helping him at all at the moment.

It was well into the afternoon when Darry returned to his recliner. He took a calming breath. It had been a long day already and it wasn't even close to over yet. And it was just one day. There would be more of these days. They would keep piling up. Darry knew it was up to him to make sure that there would be an end to days like this. That someday things would go back to normal.

He picked up the phone once again and dialed the very familiar number for the third time that day. This time when he asked for Ms. Daniels he was patched through.

"Sandra Daniels."

"Hello, Ms. Daniels," Darry greeted. "This is Darrel Curtis."

"Hello, Darrel," Ms. Daniels said. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better, thank you," Darry said. "I was released from the hospital yesterday, so I'm back at home now."

"That is very good news," Ms. Daniels said. "I'm so happy that you're okay, Darrel."

"Yeah," Darry said. "I was wonderin' when I could set up an appointment so that we can talk about me gettin' my brothers back."

"Yes, I guessed that," Ms. Daniels said with a slight laugh. He could hear her rustling some papers around on her desk. A minute went by and she sighed. "Unfortunately I'm pretty booked up, Darrel. It looks like I can get you an appointment for next week though."

"Next week?" Darry said in a pained voice.

"I know it's not ideal," Ms. Daniels said sympathetically. "But it's the best that I can do right now."

"When?"

"I can do next Thursday at nine in the morning."

Darry sighed heavily as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. No, that definitely wasn't ideal. He had been hoping to at least be well on his way to getting his brothers back by then. But he knew there wasn't anything he could do about it. "Yeah, okay," Darry said flatly.

"I'm sorry, Darrel," Ms. Daniels tried to assure him. "That's the soonest appointment I can get you. It's just another week though."

"Is there any way I can talk to my brothers before then?" he asked, pleading lightly. "Or maybe even see them?"

"I'm sorry," Ms. Daniels said, actually sounding regretful. "I won't be able to authorize anything like that until we have our meeting."

Darry closed his eyes briefly. "But… but they're okay?"

"Of course they are," Ms. Daniels said. "We'll work through all this, you just have to be patient."

"Yeah," Darry said, but the disappointment was clear in his voice.

"I will see you Thursday at nine," Ms. Daniels said.

"Yeah okay," Darry said. "See you then."

He hung up the phone and stared at it. He had been hoping for better news. Instead he felt buried even deeper in this mess. He leaned back in the recliner, feeling tired. He hadn't slept more than an hour or two the night before. And his headache was spiking again. He had been in pain so much since he had woken up and he was getting real tired of it.

The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to make time go faster. Ignoring any pain in his head he did his best to keep moving. He wandered around the house, cleaning things up, though he left Pony and Soda's room alone. He even attempted to mow the lawn, but after two minutes with the roaring lawn mower he found that he couldn't handle the noise and gave up on it.

Darry was back in the recliner with the TV on when he heard the sound of car doors slamming outside announcing the arrival of Steve and Two-Bit. He felt relief wash over him. At least now he wouldn't be alone in the house.

"Hey Darry!" Two-Bit said as he led Steve into the living room. "How was your first day back in the real world?"

Darry rolled his eyes. "Long and boring," he said.

"Did you manage to get a hold of the social worker?" Steve asked as he dropped down onto the couch.

"Yeah, I did," Darry said shortly.

"And?" Steve prompted.

"I got a meeting for next Thursday."

"Next Thursday?" Steve asked, outraged.

"That was the soonest appointment I could get," Darry said tiredly.

"Well then they shoulda bumped someone," Steve raged. "This is important!"

"Steve," Two-Bit said, rolling his eyes. "It's social services, not the DMV. It ain't like they just have appointments for random, unimportant things."

"Since when are you the rational one?" Darry asked skeptically.

"Someone's gotta pick up the slack," Two-Bit said leaning back on the couch.

"She told me to be patient," Darry said, rolling his eyes. "How am I supposed to be patient when I don't even know where my brothers are? How am I supposed to be patient when I'm alone in this house where everything I look at reminds me of who's supposed to be here?"

"It's gonna be okay, Darry," Two-Bit said. "The time will go faster once you get back to work next week. And I'll be around this weekend and I am a wonderful ball of sunshine." He grinned.

"And if that gets old, you can always belt him," Steve said. "That would make anyone feel better."

Darry laughed lightly at this. At least he wasn't completely alone in this.

Steve and Two-Bit did their best to distract him as they turned the subject to anything else they could think of. A few hours went by and they were discussing what to do for dinner. Darry couldn't afford to feed the two of them like he used to but Two-Bit was insistent on acquiring food for them again. As Darry looked at him he blinked a few times, suddenly aware of some strange spots in his vision. He tried to brush them off though.

Darry was mid-sentence when suddenly his dull headache escalated to a blinding pain on one side of his head. He cut himself off as he suddenly squinted his eyes and put a hand to his head, feeling his features twist up in pain.

"Darry?" He could hardly comprehend Two-Bit's surprised and worried voice.

"My head," Darry moaned as he hunched over on himself.

"Where's your medicine?" It was Steve's voice this time. They were both close by now.

Darry shook his head and then grimaced hard, quickly finding out what a mistake that had been. He couldn't think very clearly at the moment and had no idea where he had left that bottle of painkillers the doctor had given him. Somehow the migraine was only getting worse. He put his other hand up to his head as well, resisting the urge to start clawing at the pain.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but suddenly someone pulling one of his hands away from his head.

"Darry, c'mon," Two-Bit said anxiously. "Take this, you'll feel better."

Darry took the pain pill that Two-Bit had apparently tracked down and popped it in his mouth, swallowing it dry while ignoring the glass of water offered to him. He clenched his jaw as he leaned back in the recliner with his eyes closed waiting to the medicine to work its way into his system. It took some time but finally the pain began to dull slightly. He already knew from experience at the hospital that the medicine wouldn't take away all of the pain, but it should at least make it seem a bit more manageable.

Finally he opened his eyes, seeing Two-Bit and Steve still hovering around him looking nervous.

"You okay, Darry?" Two-Bit asked.

"Kinda," Darry murmured.

"We could take you back to the hospital," Steve said unsurely.

Darry had to stop himself from shaking his head, reminding himself that the motion only caused more pain. "No. The doctor said it would be normal to get migraines from time to time. I only need to go back if it happens a couple days in a row." He paused, taking a breath. "I just need to lay down for a while."

"Yeah, okay," Two-Bit said.

Two-Bit carefully helped Darry to his feet, and Darry winced as the movement hurt his head and caused his vision to spin. He hung on to Two-Bit for stability as they made their way down the hallway and into his room. As he lay down on his bed Steve thankfully moved to the window and pulled the curtains closed, blocking out at least some of the painful sunlight.

"We'll hang around," Two-Bit said, lowering his voice slightly. "Call if you need anythin'."

"Thanks," Darry mumbled.

As Two-Bit and Steve left the room, Darry curled up on his side with his back to the window where light still shown through the thin fabric, suddenly feeling very young. It was times like these were you miss your family the most. He took a deep breath. It was going to be a very long week.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

_Wednesday, October 19__th_

Darry waited around the house impatiently. It had been one week since he had been released from the hospital. Today he was supposed to go back to the hospital for a follow up visit to see how he was healing. The problem was that he wasn't cleared to drive yet so he had to wait for a ride. Steve was working after school, but Two-Bit was going to drop by and get him. It was beyond frustrating having to wait around for a ride when his truck was parked right out in the driveway. He wasn't helpless. Not to mention the house was so quiet that it was driving him crazy. As promised Two-Bit had hung around the house with him over the weekend, but then he had been at school all week. Darry was ready to get back to work if for no other reason than to not be sitting around the house doing nothing all day. But in order for that to happen he needed to get cleared to drive and cleared to work.

Darry was hovering by the door so that when Two-Bit finally rolled up in his car he was already halfway down the walk by the time he put it in park.

"Someone's anxious," Two-Bit laughed as Darry climbed into the car.

"I'm so sick of bein' in that house," Darry mumbled. "It's too quiet and turning on the radio hurts my head."

"You have any more of those migraines?" Two-Bit asked, a hint of concern in his voice. He shifted into drive and started toward the hospital.

Darry carefully shook his head. "Just the two. The one last week and then the other one on Sunday." He had had his second migraine on Sunday morning when Two-Bit had been around. He had gotten his medication quicker this time but he still was in bed for hours afterwards, trying to ward off the pain. He hoped that this wouldn't become a usual occurrence. It had to get better. Right?

They made it back to the hospital and Darry almost outwardly cringed at the sight. He was certainly not happy to be back here but he knew that it was necessary. He needed to get this over with in order to get back to his normal life. His normal life that included his brothers. He had his meeting with the social worker the next morning and he knew that getting completely cleared today would greatly help his case. So maybe it was for the best that he couldn't get an appointment at social services right away.

Inside the hospital had the same too bright lights, the same plain white walls, and the same antiseptic smell. Darry felt antsy as they sat in the waiting room. Finally his name was called. Two-Bit stayed in the waiting room as Darry headed back to an exam room. One of the nurses took his general vitals before the doctor showed up.

"Hello Darrel," the doctor greeted with a smile. "How have you been feeling?"

"A lot better," Darry assured him.

"Any more pain?" the doctor asked as he began checking him over.

"No, not really," Darry hedged.

"What about migraines?" the doctor asked. "Have you had any of those this past week?"

Darry hesitated, contemplating lying or at least not telling the whole truth. But then he remembered Mr. Hubor's words when he had come to visit him. _And don't try callin' before the doc says it's okay. Remember, if you hurt yourself worse, you won't be any use to Pony and Soda. They need you to be healthy. _He needed to get this under control in order to get his brothers back.

"Yeah, I had one last Thursday and another one on Sunday," he finally admitted.

The doctor nodded. "How long did the symptoms last?"

Darry paused. "Couple hours."

"That's good, sometimes migraines can last up to seventy-two hours," the doctor informed him.

Darry wasn't terribly comforted by this. "How long is this gonna last?"

"The more time that passes the more sporadic they should become," he said. "Right now you will probably have the migraines a few times per week. But as time goes on they will become less and less common, perhaps going months between episodes."

"Well that's somethin'," Darry said.

"In time you will learn to manage your symptoms and you will be able to recognize the signs that a migraine is coming on so that you will be able to prepare yourself," he went on.

"What kind of signs?" Darry asked.

"Common signs will present themselves a day or two before the actual migraine," the doctor said. "Some of the signs may be depression, food cravings, hyperactivity, irritability, neck stiffness and uncontrollable yawning. These will become easier to identify especially when there's more time between the episodes."

This made a lot of sense. Darry could remember waking up with a stiff neck both the days of his migraines. He was glad that he would at least be able to know they are coming so he wouldn't feel so blindsided.

"So can I get back to work?" Darry asked.

The doctor hesitated and Darry could feel his stomach fall as he read the doctor's expression. "I'd like to wait a little longer to clear you for work. I think you need to get a better handle on the long term side effects of the concussion first."

Darry was shaking his head even before the doctor had finished speaking. "I _need_ to get back to work," he insisted.

"Darrel, you need to be able to manage your symptoms before you can safely return to work," the doctor said patiently. "Imagine if you were hit with one of those migraines while standing on the roof of a house." Darry was quiet. He really didn't have an argument for that. "You need to be patient. All I'm asking is that you wait one more week. Then we can reassess." Darry rubbed his eyes tiredly and clearly the doctor took notice. "How have you been sleeping?"

"Not well," Darry mumbled. He hadn't gotten a full night's sleep since he had come home from the hospital. He had been too restless and couldn't seem to get more than two or three hours of sleep a night. The deprivation was really starting to wear on him.

"Insomnia can be another lasting side effect of the concussion," the doctor said. "I can prescribe you something to help you sleep."

Darry shook his head. "No, that's okay," he said. "I'll be fine." He didn't need to be buying any more medication for himself when he needed the money and he could get along for a while loosing a little sleep. In any case, he got the feeling that his lack of sleep was less of a medical problem and more because of his worry for his brothers.

"Alright," the doctor said, though he didn't look too convinced. "You can call if you change your mind."

"Sure," Darry said tiredly.

"Have you noticed any other symptoms coming up?" the doctor asked, checking over his chart.

"No," Darry answered immediately.

"No problems with concentration and memory? No irritability? Depression? Anxiety?"

Darry hesitated. "No." His voice was steady even though the words had jumped out at him. Depression. Anxiety. But that wasn't because of the concussion. That was because of his brothers not being here with him. He was worried about them. That was all. He just needed to get them back and then everything would be able to go back to normal.

"Okay," the doctor said. "Now we can schedule you another appointment at the same time next week. You can come back then and we can reassess you going back to work. And if any other symptoms come up you can always call."

"Yeah, okay," Darry agreed.

"Keep getting plenty of rest and I'll see you next week."

_Like I got anythin' else to keep me occupied,_ he thought bitterly to himself.

As Darry headed back to the waiting room he felt even more exhausted and overwhelmed than he had going in. He had hoped to feel relieved walking out of this. Guess he had his hopes too high.

"How'd it go?" Two-Bit asked as Darry reappeared in the waiting room.

Darry sighed. "Not well."

Two-Bit immediately looked concerned. "Are you okay? What'd the doctor say?"

Darry shook his head. "No, I'm fine," he assured him quickly; aware of how his answer had sounded. "Physically. But he wants to wait another week before he clears me to work."

"Why's that?" Two-Bit asked as they started out into the parking lot.

"He wants me to get a better handle on the migraines before I go back," he said.

"Well I guess that makes sense," Two-Bit admitted. "I mean those migraines are pretty cripplin' right now, aren't they? I mean if that happened while you were up on the roof…" He let the thought trail off as Darry rolled his eyes.

"What could possibly happen?" he said sarcastically. "I might fall? How bad could that be?" Darry rubbed his head tiredly as they approached Two-Bit's car. "I just want this all to be over."

"Yeah, we all do," Two-Bit agreed as he unlocked the door. "But you still got the meeting at social services tomorrow, right? Maybe that will go well."

"Are you kiddin' me?" Darry snapped as they climbed into the car. "Like they're even gonna consider givin' Soda and Pony back to me if I can't even work."

Two-Bit gave him a surprised look. Darry knew that he didn't snap much, but all this was really starting to wear on him.

"Hey, it's all gonna work out," Two-Bit assured him. "It may take a little longer than we'd like, but Soda and Pony will come home."

"You so sure of that?" Darry asked tiredly.

"I am," Two-Bit said firmly with a grin.

"At least one of us is," Darry mumbled.

"Just don't go in to the meeting tomorrow assuming it's gonna go bad," Two-Bit said, glancing over at him with a hint of seriousness in his voice. He paused, as if something had just dawned on him. "So if you haven't been cleared to work I guess you haven't been cleared to drive yet, huh?"

Darry sighed. "Not technically," he admitted. "I'll be fine though."

Two-Bit shook his head. "I'll drive you to the meetin' tomorrow."

"You got school," Darry pointed out.

"School will be fine without me for the morning," Two-Bit said.

"No, seriously, Two-Bit," Darry insisted. "I'll be fine. I don't need to be driven around like an invalid."

Darry was a little surprised when Two-Bit stopped the car and put it in park until he glanced around and found they had already made it back to the house. He was about to get out of the car when Two-Bit reached over and stopped him.

"Darry, I know your focus right now is on gettin' Soda and Pony back," he said steadily. "I get that. I want that too. But… you don't know what it was like sittin' at your bedside for almost two weeks not sure if you'd ever wake up. You gotta take care of yourself, Darry. What you went through was no joke. So we're gonna play this one by the book. Doc says you shouldn't drive yet, then you ain't gonna drive."

Darry just stared. Two-Bit's tone left no room for argument. Calmly Two-Bit climbed out of the car and after a moment Darry remembered himself as he climbed out as well. They walked up to the house in silence.

Inside Darry fell into his recliner in the living room before he finally had his thoughts organized enough to break the silence. "I keep forgettin'," he said quietly. Two-Bit slowly sat on the couch, watching him carefully. "To me the whole thing was like a long nap. I vaguely remember fallin', but then the next thing I knew I was wakin' up in the hospital. It's hard to remember that so much time passed and how hard it was on you guys."

Two-Bit nodded. "So as much as we want Soda and Pony back… we also want to make sure you're okay too."

"Even Steve?" Darry said with a light laugh.

Two-Bit chuckled. "Even Steve. Even if he won't admit it." He paused. "Just remember, it's not like Soda and Pony are in jail or in trouble or nothin'. I'm sure they're fine. That's what social services is for, right? Takin' care of kids?"

"That's the idea," Darry said with a sigh. "But they put Pony in some foster home somewhere. Without Soda. I think that's what makes me the most nervous. At least if they had kept them together Soda would be able to look after him. Who knows what kinda home he's in, you know? Who knows what kind of people they put him with. He's still kinda fragile after everythin' that happened last month."

"Hey, he's a tough kid," Two-Bit said.

"I know," Darry said. "But he's never been completely on his own like that before. There's always been one of the gang with him. Even when he ran away, at least Johnny was with him."

"Well I'm sure as soon as you get cleared to work and things get back to normal, they won't have a leg to stand on to keep them away from you," Two-Bit assured him.

"It wouldn't be so bad if I could at least see them or even just talk to them," Darry said. "Not havin' any contact with them at all… is killin' me. I don't care how many times the state say they're fine, I want to hear it from them."

"You think that tomorrow they'll let you talk to them?" Two-Bit asked.

"I dunno," Darry said dismally. "Maybe."

"I don't see why they wouldn't," Two-Bit said, trying to be positive. "It's not like they took them away because of somethin' you did to them."

"Yeah," Darry said, but even he could hear the doubt in his own voice. He could already see that this wasn't going to be as easy as he wanted it to be. He rubbed his forehead.

"Your head feelin' okay?" Two-Bit asked.

"No worse than usual."

"You want some aspirin?" Two-Bit offered.

"Sure," Darry agreed.

As Two-Bit left Darry felt himself sinking back into the recliner. He was exhausted. The past week of sleepless nights were finally starting to catch up with him. In the time it took Two-Bit to track down the bottle of aspirin and a glass of water Darry was already dozing off into another restless sleep. He wouldn't rest easy until his brothers came home.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

_Thursday, October 20__th_

It was the next day, the day of Darry's appointment with the social worker. Things hadn't gone as well as he had hoped the day before with the doctor. He couldn't see how today could go any better, but there was always hope… right?

Steve hadn't been pleased when he heard the news about what the doctor had told them, knowing what that meant for Soda and Pony. He had wanted to come along with Darry and Two-Bit to the social worker's office, but they had both decided that it would be better for him to stay behind. His temper wasn't going to help their case. It took some convincing but he finally agreed to sit this one out.

They were quiet as they drove, both Darry and Two-Bit clearly deep in thought. They arrived at the social services office a little too soon, as Darry found that he was more nervous than the thought he'd be. He could vividly remember the last time he had been here. It had been when he was first petitioning for custody of his brothers. They had granted him temporary custody right after their parents had passed, but he had to fight for permanent custody. He remembered feeling nervous then. He remembered feeling devastated about losing his parents and terrified that he would lose his brothers as well. He was having very similar feelings now. Except that he was devastated about losing his brothers and terrified that he wasn't going to get them back.

Feeling heavy, Darry pulled himself out of the car, slamming the door behind him. Two-Bit did the same thing on the driver's side, and then leaned up against the car, looking across at Darry who was hesitating as he looked at the building in front of him.

"You want me to go in with you?" Two-Bit asked.

Darry shook his head. "No, that's okay," he said, though he could hear the flat tone in his voice. He wasn't looking forward to doing this on his own, but this was his responsibility. Not to mention that he didn't want to have to explain that he couldn't drive himself here. "I can handle it."

Two-Bit shrugged. "Okay." He lit up a cigarette as Darry took a deep breath and walked forward into the office.

The social services office was just as plain as he remembered. It was pretty quiet here so early in the morning. Darry could remember coming in the afternoon and finding it to be pretty chaotic. He wasn't even finished checking in at the reception desk when Ms. Daniels approached with a smile.

"Hi, Darrel," she greeted. "Come on back."

Darry followed her back into the main part of the office. Ms. Daniels did not have a private office space, like most of the other social workers her desk resided in the middle of a large room clustered with cubicles. Just like Darry could recall, Ms. Daniels' desk was still one of the messier ones in the office, stacked high with papers and folders to the point where it was hard to believe that she could find anything. There were pictures of family members and little inspirational sayings pinned to the walls around her cube, making it seem even more cluttered. Darry had always liked her because she always seemed so down to earth and always supported Darry's custody of his brothers.

"Okay, just give me a minute to get organized here," Ms. Daniels said as she sat as her desk and started shuffling some of her papers around. Darry sat in the chair across from her and tried his best not to fidget too much with his nervous energy. He was reminded with a pang of Soda, who could never sit still. "So, Darrel," she said after she got herself settled. "How have you been feeling since you've been home?"

"A lot better," Darry said, almost automatically.

"Have you returned to work yet?"

Darry sighed. He hadn't been expecting that question so quickly, but he supposed Ms. Daniels wanted to get right to the point. "No, not yet," he admitted. "I haven't been cleared yet."

"When was the last time you had a doctor's appointment?" she asked.

"Yesterday," Darry answered.

"And they said you still weren't ready to go back to work?"

Darry felt his heart fall. He could see exactly where this was going. "No," he said flatly.

Ms. Daniels paused as she made a note in her file. "Do you know what concerns your doctor still has about you working?"

"Um." He hesitated. "I get these headaches sometimes. He just wants me to be able to manage them better before going back to work up on the roofs." Headaches sounded better than migraines, he decided.

"Manage them…" Ms. Daniels repeated as she looked up at him, a hint on concern in her features. "So would you consider these headaches a hindrance?"

"No, I mean they're not that bad," Darry said quickly, hoping that he sounded convincing. "It's just that there are signs that the headaches are coming and he wants me to be able to recognize the signs better before I go back to work."

"So if you recognize the signs will you not work the days that you have these headaches?" Darry was silent. Ms. Daniels seemed to take this as her answer. "How often do you get these headaches?"

"Right now just once or twice a week," Darry hedged. "The doctor said that they will get better though. They will become less common."

Ms. Daniels nodded while she wrote. Then she looked up at him, a sympathetic look in her eyes. "Darrel, I think you already know that this doesn't look good for your case."

"I know," Darry admitted, running a hand through his hair. "I just… you know me, Ms. Daniels. I try to do good by my brothers."

"I do know that, Darrel," Ms. Daniels said. "You have always been a good guardian to your brothers. That isn't what's in question he. What is in question is your ability to support them after your accident at work."

"I will support them," Darry insisted. "I've got some money saved up, and Soda will be able to work…"

"You can't be dependent on Sodapop's paycheck though," Ms. Daniels pointed out. "You need to be the responsible one."

"No, I know, that's not what I meant," Darry said, quickly trying to backtrack. This was not going well at all. He took a breath, trying to organize his thoughts. "The doctor said that we'd be able to reassess me goin' back to work next week. So I should be workin' again next week."

"I'm sorry, Darrel, but before we start the process here it would really make sense to wait until you are able to work again," she said. Darry slouched down in his seat, feeling crestfallen. Somehow he had known that was coming, but it was still difficult to hear. "I _could_ start the process now, if you insist, but it really won't do you any good," she went on sympathetically. "As soon as it goes to my supervisor's desk it's going to get rejected. It makes much more sense to wait until you're working again so that you have a solid argument that you will be able to properly take care of Sodapop and Ponyboy."

"Yeah, okay," Darry said dismally.

"You just need to have some patience," Ms. Daniels said gently. "I will say that when things start getting back to normal I can't see a reason to keep them away from you. I know you've always been a good guardian to them."

"Thanks," Darry said, trying to manage a small smile. He paused. "Do you think I could at least see them? Or talk to them?"

Darry read the look on her face even before she spoke. "I really can't authorize that right now," she said. "They were taken out of your custody so I'm not allowed to release any information to you. But I promise you that is something that I will work on as soon as we start the petition process. We shouldn't have to wait until the end for you to be able to see them."

Darry nodded. That was better than nothing he supposed. "How long do you think this in gonna take?" He wasn't really sure he wanted to know the answer to that question, but somehow he just couldn't help himself.

"Well, first you have to start working again," she reminded him. "After that we can start the process. We'll have you come in and fill out some paperwork. I'll have to meet with your doctor and your boss and also do a home visit. Once all of that in completed and I get all the paperwork done I can submit it to my supervisor, who will have the final say. He may request an interview with you as well. I would say that optimistically this will take about two or three weeks."

Darry frowned as he did the math. So even if he went back to work next week he still wouldn't get his brothers back for two or three weeks after that. And he didn't miss the way that she said the word optimistically. Pony and Soda had been taken away almost a month ago now. Potentially they could still be away for another month. Two months in the custody of the state. His stomach clenched at the thought. Would he be able to have his brothers back by Thanksgiving? That was only about a month away.

"Try not to be too discouraged," Ms. Daniels spoke up, sensing his distress. "I do believe that all this will work out. It's just going to take some time."

"Yeah… I hope so," Darry said.

"You just focus on getting yourself better," Ms. Daniels said. "I'm sure you're brothers are just fine."

"Have you seen them?" Darry asked abruptly.

Ms. Daniels seemed a little surprised by the question. "Well, no, I only do field work these days. I took them to the boy's home but after that they are out of my hands. There are other social workers who are more specialized in dealing with the kids in the actual care system."

Darry didn't like that. "Well then how would you know that they are okay?"

"Because I trust this system," Ms. Daniels said calmly. "I wouldn't work here if I didn't."

"Well, I hope you're right," Darry admitted. "Can you at least tell me why they were separated?"

Ms. Daniels sighed. "That is unfortunate that that happened. But truth of the matter is it's easier to place a boy Ponyboy's age than it is to place a boy Sodapop's age. They usually try to keep siblings together, but the boy's homes can sometimes get overcrowded so they do what they can to put as many boys in foster homes as possible." Darry didn't like how that sounded, but it seemed pointless to argue it now that it had already happened. "Now, when do you go back to see the doctor?"

"Next Wednesday," Darry told her.

Ms. Daniels flipped through a day planner. "You call me after that appointment to let me know if you are cleared to work," she told him. "I can keep a slot open for you on Friday morning just in case you are cleared. You'll just have to come in a fill out a few papers in order to start the process and it'll be good if we can start it before the weekend. It should only take a few minutes so you should be able to just pop in before work."

"Okay," Darry said. "Thanks very much for all your help. I appreciate it." He did understand that if nothing else he knew that Ms. Daniels had good intentions.

"Of course," Ms. Daniels said. "And you should know that as long as everything checks out medically and financially, you will have my support to get your brothers back."

Darry smiled almost sincerely at this. "I'm glad to hear that."

After saying their goodbyes and Ms. Daniels reminding him again to take care of himself, Darry was heading back out of the office. As he walked into the parking lot Two-Bit was right where he had left him, leaning up against the car smoking a cigarette. Darry imagined that it had to at least be his second smoke since he had left him.

"How'd it go?" Two-Bit asked as he flicked away the butt of the cancer stick. They both ducked into the car before Darry answered.

"Not as bad as it could have gone," he admitted. "I can't start the process of petitionin' for custody until I start workin' again. But our social worker was real supportive. She said that as long as I get cleared medically and get back to work that she'll support me gettin' Pony and Soda back."

"Well, that's good news," Two-Bit said with a grin.

"Yeah, it's something," Darry agreed.

Two-Bit laughed loudly. "Look at you bein' all optimistic!"

Darry rolled his eyes at him. He knew he had been a downer lately though, so Two-Bit did actually have a reason to be surprised. He was surprised himself. Even though he still had to wait to actually petition for his brothers, he did actually believe that he would get them back, even if it took longer than he wanted it to. But two months apart wasn't so long in the grand scheme of things. It was better than having to wait years until they each turned eighteen.

As they pulled back up to the house Darry found that he wasn't surprised at all to see Steve sitting on the porch, smoking. It actually seemed very natural.

"So?" Steve asked immediately as Darry and Two-Bit came up the walk, before they even made it to the porch.

"It's not gonna be a magic fix," Darry said tiredly. He knew this wasn't going to be pleasant and wanted to get it over with quickly. "We're gonna have to be patient."

Steve rolled his eyes, annoyed. "What's the big deal?" he demanded. "They took them away from you 'cause you were in the hospital. Now you're outta the hospital. Seems like a no-brainer to me."

"It was never gonna be that simple," Darry said, admitting it out loud for the first time. He crossed his arms and leaned up against the porch railing.

Steve stood up very suddenly and angrily kicked at the stairs with a shout of frustration.

"Hey, take it easy," Two-Bit tried.

"Get out of my way," Steve spat as he shoved Two-Bit away and stormed down the path.

Two-Bit started to go after him but Darry reached out and stopped him. "Let him go," he said. "He needs to go blow off some steam."

Two-Bit looked at him, startled. "I don't get why he's bein' so hot headed. I mean him and Soda are friends, yeah, but this seems a little excessive."

"Soda is the one who keeps Steve from goin' off the deep end," Darry said as he watched Steve disappearing down the street. "We're all there for Steve, but it's really Soda who's kept him from gettin' into big trouble all these years. He's the one who keeps Steve's anger in check. Without him…" He let the thought hang.

"Yeah, well Soda's not here right now," Two-Bit said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "He's gonna need to get used to that. At least for now."

"You can go after him if you want," Darry said tiredly. He turned and carefully climbed the stairs. He walked into the house by himself. It was too quiet as usual. He was already falling into the recliner when the door opened again, Two-Bit standing a bit unsurely in the doorway.

"You okay?" he said slowly. "I mean, you seemed like you were in good spirits on the way home."

Darry sighed. "I'm just tired," he said, rubbing his face. Now that all the excitement had worn off he felt like he could barely keep his eyes open. He hadn't slept at all the night before. "I get how Steve's feelin', but I'm just too tired to really deal with it right now."

"Have you been sleepin' okay?" Two-Bit asked as he studied him. "You've been lookin' awfully tired."

"No, not really," he said. He leaned back and closed his eyes. He hadn't even bothered going to bed the last few nights, instead he spent the nights here in the recliner with the television on, drifting in and out of consciousness. He never felt well rested though.

Darry was aware of a blanket being placed over him. "Try and get some rest, big guy," came Two-Bit's voice as he slowly drifted off.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note:** Okay, here we go. This chapter has kind of been dragging out of me all week. I was really sick all week so my focus hasn't been the best. I hope this still came out okay. This chapter is supposed to be just a small glimpse into what is going on with Soda and Pony. You will find out a lot more about Soda and Pony later on in the story, I promise. Please review!

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**Chapter Twelve**

_**Tuesday, October 25th**_

Soda stood against the chain link fence in the yard of the boy's home, quietly smoking a cigarette, a shiner covering his left eye. He had never smoked much before, but the past few weeks he had begun smoking very regularly. He got his cigarettes from poker games among the boys that were secretly played in a downstairs hallway. From what he could gather, most of the cigarettes were swiped from the security guards by some of the boys who had been there for years and knew how the place worked.

He eyeballed the high fence over his shoulder. As he looked at it he was aware of one of the security guards watching him carefully. After Pony had been taken to the foster home he had been put in detention for several days for the scene in the front hallway. The first day the let him outside after that incident he had tried to escape. He had made it about halfway up the fence before one of the security guards had run over and yanked him back down hard. He had been given detention for several more days. However the very next time he was allowed outside he had tried to jump the fence again. And again he had been pulled down before making it over. This time he had been forced to Mrs. Walters' office where she had threatened to send him to a more secure facility if he didn't stop trying to escape. He didn't want that. He didn't want to be moved around because then he was afraid that Darry wouldn't be able to find him… if he ever woke up.

Soda rubbed his hands together in order to warm them up. The cool October air made him shiver. He hadn't had any contact with Pony since he was taken away. It was driving him crazy wondering if his little brother was okay. It was driving him even crazier wondering how his older brother was doing. He had received no news about Darry's condition and any time he had tried to ask Mrs. Walters about him she had merely brushed him off. He feared the worst. He knew that if Darry were okay he would have seen him by now, he would have come down to the boy's home looking for him and Pony. He wouldn't leave them here… right?

"Hey!"

Soda didn't bat an eye. He just kept on staring up at the fence thoughtfully, the cigarette held loosely in his lips. His hands were shoved securely in his pockets. He knew exactly who was talking and he knew that they were talking to him. But he halfway hoped if he seemed uninterested then they might just leave him be. No such luck though. A moment later Mark had him by the collar of his jacket and shoved him up against the fence. His usual gang – Michael, John and Andrew – had strategically placed themselves to block the two from the view of the security guards.

"Hey, I'm talkin' at you!" Mark spat.

Soda calmly lifted an arm and took the cigarette from his mouth. He exhaled smoke into Mark's face. "Yeah. Heard you. The whole neighborhood heard you."

Mark made a face at him. "Gimme your cigarettes."

"Hell no," Soda shot back immediately. "I won these fair and square."

"An' now I'm takin' 'em fair an' square," Mark growled.

Soda wasn't real sure why Mark had it in for him. However it was clear that he had somehow scared Pony while they had shared a bedroom. And that made Soda hate him, even more so since Pony wasn't here with him anymore. The problem was that Mark and his gang were all bigger than him and they were all older than him, if only by a few months. Mark was about six months away from becoming of age and being able to leave the boy's home. Soda certainly wasn't a weakling though. If it had been just Mark or maybe even just Mark and one other he might have been able to fair better. But the fact of the matter was that it was always four on one since Mark didn't seem to go anywhere without his posse. And somehow, despite all the beatings that Soda had endured from the group over the past few weeks, they never really got caught. Soda wasn't quite sure how that happened, but Mark seemed to really know how to get away with murder. Figuratively speaking. He hoped.

Of course that never stopped Soda from fighting back. Soda reached out and shoved Mark away from him hard, causing him to break his grip. "Get your own damn cigarettes," Soda spat.

"Oh you're gonna regret that," Mark snarled, looking murderous.

"What are you gonna do?" Soda demanded. "Kick my ass out here in front of the security guards." Soda opened his arms in a welcoming gesture. "Go ahead and try."

Mark glared at him. Soda knew full well that Mark was very careful to pick the times and places where he would beat up other kids in the home. Deserted hallways, bedrooms and bathrooms were his favorites. Places where they weren't strictly supervised. Soda kept his guard up though, because he did know that from time to time Mark would slip. He had a bit of a short temper.

It was a good thing Soda kept his guard up because after a moment Mark lunged forward and Soda was just able to duck out of the way. Unfortunately he didn't get far, as was usually the case. Two of the other boys grabbed him while Mark kneed him in the stomach, knocking the air out of him. As he doubled over a fist connected with the side of his face.

"Hey!" One of the security guards had run over at that point and the boys around him scattered as Soda sunk to the ground, wheezing as he tried to catch his breath. The security guard paused briefly and glanced down at him. "You okay, kid?" Despite the question the guard managed to sound completely unconcerned about his well-being.

"M'fine," Soda mumbled even as the security guard was already walking away.

He took in a painful breath as he sat back, leaning up against the fence behind him while he rested a hand lightly on his chest where Mark had kneed him. He felt sick to his stomach and was trying very hard not to throw up. His bottom ribs felt bruised. After a few minutes his breathing finally started coming easier. He sighed to himself. He knew Mark was going to track him down later when none of the adults would be around to break up the fight. It had become a predictable pattern lately, and there wasn't much he could do about it when the group ganged up on him like they did.

It was in moments like this he missed the gang the most. If any of them were around to have his back he wouldn't be in this mess.

_Darry… don't leave us,_ he thought to himself. _Please… wake up. Please come find us._

XxXxX

Pony was holed up in his room. Of course, it wasn't really _his _room. It was the room in his foster home that he shared with another foster child, a boy a few years younger than him. He sat on the bed that they had given him, his history textbook balanced on his knees as he studied. The rest of the house was silent. He was grateful for that.

It had been weeks since Pony had been placed in foster care. The house was located in a town about a half hour from Tulsa. It was a small house, not much bigger than his own home, though admittedly it was better taken care of. His foster parents were the Millers. Mrs. Miller seemed nice enough, though she never appeared particularly interested in either of the boys in her care. Neither did Mr. Miller for that matter. The difference was that Pony learned quickly that Mr. Miller had a temper. Their other foster child, Matthew, had been in their care for about a year when Pony came along.

As the door to the bedroom opened, Pony involuntarily tensed. He didn't like being around anyone in the house, preferring his solitude. He was relieved when he saw that it was only Matthew though. Matthew was very quiet, so even though they shared a room him and Pony didn't talk much. That's the way that Pony liked it.

Matthew immediately retreated to his own bed and by the banging sounds coming from elsewhere in the house Pony assumed that Mr. Miller was home. He was always much louder than Mrs. Miller. Pony glanced at the clock and was surprised to see how late it was. Mr. Miller must have gone out drinking after work. Again. Pony felt his stomach fall at the thought.

After a few minutes the predictable sounds of Mr. and Mrs. Miller yelling at each other could be heard from down the hall. It was at that point that Matthew climbed under the covers and pulled the blanket over his head, clothes and all. In many ways Matthew reminded Pony of Johnny. It was a painful thought.

Pony did his best to block out everything as he tried to focus back on his history textbook. It was getting harder and harder to ignoring the yelling though. Then there was the sound of a door slamming and the yelling abruptly stopped. Mrs. Miller must have locked herself in the bedroom again. Pony swallowed hard. He gripped the edges of his textbook as he stared at the closed bedroom door. He knew what was coming. He hoped he was wrong… but experience here the past few weeks was wearing thin on that hope.

Pony heard the steps coming down the hallway. He glanced over at Matthew's bed to find that he had curled up into a ball under his covers. He knew what was coming too. Probably more so than Pony did. A moment later the door flew open. Mr. Miller towered over them. His eyes were bloodshot and he waivered unsteadily. Clearly he was drunk.

"Get o'er here boy," he slurred, focusing on Pony. He didn't even seem to notice the lump in Matthew's bed.

"I didn't do nothin'," Pony protested.

"You get o'ver here," he repeated. Pony's eyes strayed to the belt that was folded over in his right hand. "You worthless bum. I'm sick of you in my house!"

Hesitatingly Pony put his textbook down. He knew it would just get worse if he resisted. Experience had taught him that. It had been a hard lesson to learn. Mr. Miller got impatient as he stomped into the room and roughly yanked him off his bed and to his feet. Pony whimpered quietly to himself as he squeezed his eyes shut and tensed his muscles. As the belt snapped against his back he bit back a cry. He balled his hands up into fists as the belt came down again. He tried to imagine he was somewhere else entirely. In between bites of the belt he tried to imagine he was home again. He pictured his own bed, his own room. He pictured the living room, Soda lounging on the couch while Darry sat in the recliner reading the newspaper.

Thankfully after a few minutes Mr. Miller seemed to get bored. He shoved Pony to the ground and stumbled from the room, leaving the door wide open behind him. Pony just lay there for a moment. His back throbbed. But he wouldn't cry. He refused to let himself feel weak.

Pony finally heard movement coming from the other bed in the room. Matthew carefully climbed out of bed and darted across the room. He slowly closed the door, clicking it shut as quietly as he could.

Matthew turned and looked down at Pony. "You okay?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," Pony mumbled. He couldn't blame Matthew for hiding. He was younger than him after all and had lived with this for longer.

Matthew crept back to his bed, making as little noise as possible. Pony sighed. Slowly he dragged himself up off the floor. He crawled back into bed, trying not to wince too much. After a few minutes Matthew reached over and turned off the light on the bedside table. It was only in the dark that Pony allowed the tears to fall. He hated this place even more than he hated the boy's home. He missed both Soda and Darry so much that it hurt him deep inside. More so than the physical pain of the welts on his back. He just wanted so badly to go home. But he didn't even know if there was a home left to go to.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note:** I'm SO sorry guys, I know this is way late! I've been very swamped at work this week so I'm way behind with all my writing. I'm finally starting to catch up though. Thanks for your patience! I hope to get back on a regular updating schedule soon. Please don't forget to review and let me know what you think! And also I do apologize if I don't get to responding to ever single review, but I love them all and the keep me motivated! Thank you!

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**Chapter Thirteen**

_Thursday, October 27__th_

The week had dragged on agonizingly slowly for Darry. He had no idea what to do with himself. Between not be able to work and not having his brothers around to take care of he felt like he was at a complete loss. He had nothing but time on his hands but nothing to fill his time with. It was horribly frustrating and all it did was remind him of what was missing. _Who_ was missing.

Two-Bit and Steve hung around as much as they could, and Darry was grateful for the company as well as the help. As it turned out the migraines remained pretty debilitating when they hit. Darry started carrying around his medicine in his pocket because he found that once a migraine hit he wasn't up for hunting for them. He found it to be very discouraging that they were still occurring every few days, but as the doctor had promised he began to notice symptoms several hours before felt the actual migraine. This made him hopeful that this condition would at least become manageable as he got more used to the condition.

The day before he had gone back to the hospital for another appointment. He had been happy to report on his improvement and had been very hopeful to get good news in return from the doctor. He remembered vividly the conversation he had with the doctor after he had finished the exam.

"_Well, everything is getting a lot better,"_ _the doctor had said. "I'm very happy with your improvements."_

_Darry had smiled. "Can I go back to work then?"_

_The doctor had hesitated and then studied him carefully. Darry felt uncomfortable and he could feel his hopes falling. "How have you been sleeping?"_

_Darry was taken off guard. He certainly hadn't been expecting that question. "Okay," he said slowly with a small shrug, trying to sound off-handed. It was a blatant lie though. He hadn't slept through the night once since returning home from the hospital. He tossed and turned and would restlessly wander around the house at all hours of the night. Sometimes he would even peak into Soda and Pony's room as if he expected to find his brothers sprawled out in their bed, realizing all this had been a bad dream. Unfortunately that never happened. Their bed was always uncomfortably empty._

"_You show signs of exhaustion," the doctor said. "You look like you have hardly been sleeping at all."_

_Darry stifled a yawn. "I was up a little too late last night," he tried. _

"_Darrel, insomnia can be a side effect of serious concussions. If this is effecting you like this we must address it before I can allow you to go back to work."_

_Darry sighed heavily. "Look I'm just… I'm worried about my brothers. I've never been without them for so long, not ever. I've been feeling restless and anxious, but that's just because they're not here where they should be. I know that if I can just get them back then I'll be all right. Everything will be fine. But I can't get them back until I get back to work."_

_The doctor considered him for several long moments and Darry felt so tense that it was hard to breath. He couldn't put off going to work any longer, he'd go crazy. _

_Finally the doctor stood and walked over to the counter. He pulled out his prescription pad and began writing. "I'm prescribing you a sleeping pill," he said, his back to Darry as he wrote, his expression hidden. "I want you to take it and get some rest." Darry felt his heart falling. More waiting. This isn't what he had hoped for. However when the doctor tore the paper off the pad and turned toward him he continued. "I will approve to you go back to work starting Monday as long as you promise to get plenty of rest over the next few days. Going back up onto the roof with how exhausted you are is not going to do anyone any good. You could end up right back in the hospital and your brothers will have to remain in social services."_

_Darry couldn't help but smile. "Thank you, sir," he had said sincerely. _

It was a step in the right direction anyway. Darry had rushed home and immediately called his boss, thankful to be able to get on the schedule for Monday. It felt like the most progress he had made since getting released from the hospital. After that he had called Ms. Daniels at social services who had been waiting for his call. However she insisted on waiting until after he started officially working again to have another appointment for him to fill out his petition paperwork. He had grudgingly agreed to push the appointment back to Tuesday morning. He did have hope though that he would finally get to see his brothers once they started the process, maybe even next week. It was beyond difficult dealing with all of this when he had had absolutely no contact with either of them since before his accident. Maybe if he could just talk to them and see that they were okay – they _had_ to be okay, right? – he would be able to deal with this better.

It was now Thursday. After all the excitement the day before he still had to come to terms with the fact that he still had four more days until he could go back to work. What was he supposed to fill his time with? After all this time he still had no ideas. While Two-Bit and Steve were at school he would just hang around the house. He had exhausted the idea of cleaning to keep himself occupied, the house now more neat and tidy than even his mother used to keep it. He would turn the TV on, but would rarely be able to find a show that would interest him. And staring at the TV only reminded him of how many times he had seen Pony planted on the couch, completely absorbed in a TV show or a book. What he wouldn't give to walk in on that sight again.

As slowly as the time seemed to be moving, it was still moving. The time kept on passing and soon late afternoon was upon him and he was expecting Two-Bit and Steve to show up. He didn't like being in the house by himself and would always keep checking the clock to see how much longer until his friends came over. He realized that if he could just get through tomorrow then it would be the weekend and then at least Two-Bit would be around for most of the day while Steve worked. That would make the time a bit easier to bear anyway.

Darry sighed, deciding to get up and go to the kitchen for something to eat, more out of boredom than anything else. He had lost track of how long he had been sitting in the recliner staring vacantly at the television. He wasn't even sure what he had been watching. Slowly he got to his feet. He felt a little dizzy, but that wasn't terribly unusual. He started walking toward the kitchen but something felt off. He couldn't quite walk a straight line and the dizziness wasn't fading away like it usually did. Darry stumbled. He groaned and his head ached even though he hadn't felt any of the warning symptoms of his migraines that day. He wasn't quite sure what was happening.

He put one hand to his head and reached out the other hand, blindly feeling around for a wall or something to steady himself on. He felt nothing but empty air. Everything started fading away. He was vaguely aware of the feeling of hitting the ground. Then everything went black.

XxXxX

"He's breathing!"

"I'm callin' 911."

"No, just wait a second."

"Steve, he's unconscious!"

"I think he's comin' around."

Darry moaned lightly. He was slowly becoming aware of sensations around him. Voices floating up above him. The carpet pushing up against his back. A hand on his shoulder. His head pounding dully.

"Darry?"

Slowly Darry squinted his eyes open. The blurred scene above him began to clear, bringing into focus Two-Bit and Steve's faces. They were hunched over him, both looking worried.

"Jesus, Darry!" Two-Bit sighed, running a hand threw his hair as he sat back on his heels, relief overtaking his features. "Scared the hell out of us, why don't you."

Darry carefully reached up a hand and placed it lightly against his forehead. "What happened?" he mumbled.

"No idea," Steve answered, still sounding tense. "We just walked in and you were unconscious in the middle of the floor."

Darry took in a breath and then slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. He blinked away the spots that clouded his vision, slowly feeling steadier. He thought back, trying to remember what happened.

"I remember feelin' dizzy…" he said slowly.

"Was it a migraine?" Two-Bit asked.

Darry shook his head slightly. "No, I was feelin' fine today, no symptoms."

"Maybe we should take you to the hospital," Two-Bit said slowly.

"No, I'm alright now," Darry insisted. The last thing he needed was another hospital visit just when he was getting back on track to getting his brothers back. That would only complicate things.

Steve studied him for a minute and then narrowed his eyes. "Didya sleep last night?"

Darry hesitated. "Some."

"Didn't the doctor give you a prescription for sleeping pills?" Two-Bit asked.

"Yeah," Darry admitted reluctantly. "I don't need them though."

"Don't need them?" Two-Bit repeated, awestruck. "Darry, look at yourself. You're exhausted. That's probably why you passed out, from being too tired to stay awake anymore."

"I'm fine," Darry mumbled.

"You are so far from fine," Steve pointed out.

Darry tried to brush them off as he carefully pulled himself to his feet. He looked around, taking in his surroundings. He had almost made it to the kitchen, sprawled out just a foot from the doorway. He figured it was probably slightly better collapsing on the carpet rather than the tile floor in the kitchen.

"Darry, c'mon, you can't go on not sleepin'," Two-Bit said.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Darry snapped. He made his way over to the recliner and sat heavily. "I can't sleep in this empty house, worried about Pony and Soda. And I can't afford to fill that damn prescription, at least not until I start workin' and gettin' paid again."

There were several seconds of silence. Then finally Steve stepped up to him. "Where's the prescription?"

Darry just stared at him, uncomprehending. "What?"

"Where's the prescription," he reapeated bluntly. "Give it to me, I'll fill it."

"But I don't got the money for it, I just told you," Darry said rationally.

Steve sighed impatiently as he rolled his eyes at him. "I'm gonna _buy_ your prescription for you."

Darry gave a start. "No, I can't ask you to do that."

"Clearly," Steve pointed out tiredly. "You didn't ask. I just made the decision on my own. Now where is it?"

"I can't take your money, Steve," Darry insisted.

"Are you gonna tell me where it is or am I gonna have to tear apart this whole house lookin' for it?" Steve demanded. "You can't live like this Darry, especially not if you're gonna get Soda and the kid back. You gotta take care of yourself."

There were several long seconds of silence as Darry still hesitated, feeling guilty. He didn't want to take money from his friends.

"Darry, listen to him, 'cause I'll help him look," Two-Bit spoke up. When Darry still hesitated Two-Bit went on. "What if you had been at work? What if yesterday the doctor had cleared you to go back to work right away instead of on Monday and you were on the roof when you had passed out? There's a reason he gave you that prescription and made you wait until Monday."

Darry sighed in defeat. There really was no argument for that. "It's on my nightstand," he finally admitted.

Without a word Steve turned and headed down the hallway. He reappeared a few minutes later, shoving the prescription into the pocket of his jeans. "I'll be back," he said shortly as he headed out the door, letting it slam behind him.

Darry rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"You know, it's nothin' to be ashamed of," Two-Bit said carefully as he sat on the couch. "Steve wants to help, especially since helping you is as close as he can get to helpin' Soda."

"I just hate feelin' like a burden," Darry mumbled.

"Hey, you ain't a burden," Two-Bit said. "Look, Darry, you've always been the one to take care of everyone. Even when we were little you were the one in charge, 'cause you were the oldest. So I get that you're not used to this. But you know if that if were any of us in your position, you'd be doin' the same thing we are."

Darry studied him for a minute before he cracked a half smile. "I guess you're right," he admitted.

"Things are gonna be rough for a while," Two-Bit said, his voice holding a very rare serious tone. "Things really won't be right again until we get Soda and Pony back. So just get used to me and Steve helpin' you out."

"Thanks, Two-Bit," Darry said. He knew full well that as tough as this was to get through, it would have been impossible if Two-Bit and Steve weren't there for him as much as they had been ever since he woke up in the hospital. He would be eternally grateful to them for that.

"Sure," Two-Bit said with a lazy shrug as he leaned back on the couch.

Patience had never been a strong quality in him. But Darry had always known that this was going to be a difficult road to travel. He was frustrated with all the small steps he was taking when all he wanted to do was sprint to the finish when he would get his brothers back home. But small steps forward were better than nothing. Each day was bringing him closer to getting his brothers back. He could feel that. And he could only hope that they didn't think he had given up on them. He wasn't sure how much they had been told. But he would fight for the rest of his life if that's what it took. His brothers were coming home. He'd make sure of it.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note:** Here we go, cranked this one out in one sitting! Got nothing productive done today like I had planned. But I got this out on time even with the new story I started! Very proud of myself haha. Hope you like it, please review!

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**Chapter Fourteen**

_Monday, October 31__st_

Over a month had passed since the accident and Darry was now, at long last, heading back to work. It was hard to believe that it had only been a month; to Darry it had felt like so much more time had passed since he had last been at work. But today he was about to take a big step. Today he was finally going back to work, which was huge in terms of getting his brothers back. And getting his brothers back was the only thing that mattered to him right now.

Things had been slowly evening out for him as well with his health. After he started taking the sleeping pills that doctor had prescribed he finally started sleeping through the night. He felt more rested than he had since waking up in the hospital. And he had to admit it was better than tossing and turning as he worried about Pony and Soda all night. With more sleep he was feeling more functional during the daytime. He cleaned the house, mowed the lawn, stocked up on groceries. Life was almost starting to feel normal again. Almost.

Darry pulled up to the work site early and was the first one there. It was a different house than they had been at the last time he had worked. That wasn't surprising though. They had probably had several other jobs since Darry's accident. Everything didn't come to a screeching halt because of him being gone. He was a good worker but he wasn't the only the only worker.

Darry got out of the truck and leaned against it, letting the cool breeze of the early October morning wash over him. He looked up at the roof of the house in front of him. Clearly they had been working on this for a few days now. The roof looked almost halfway done already. Quietly he sipped coffee from his travel mug. It was already starting to get cold. He kept drinking it though. Even though he had taken his pills the night before and gotten a lot of rest he still felt a bit nervous. Passing out due to exhaustion the week before had shook him up a bit. He wanted to be wide-awake for his first day back on the job.

Finally people started showing up. Most gave him glances while a few gave him greetings. Darry hung back for as long as he could. He felt a little awkward and out of place after being gone for so long.

"Hey Curtis." Darry turned to see James Cooper walking up to him. He remembered talking with Cooper the morning of his accident, telling him about how Soda had woken him up the night before when he had come in late. He remembered Cooper was the one who had yelled for him to look out right before he was knocked down. "Good to see you back. How you feelin'?"

"Better, thanks," Darry said, nodding.

"It's been pretty quiet around here since that day," Cooper went on. "What happened to you… scared people."

"Yeah… scared the hell out of me too," Darry muttered.

Cooper nodded, looking over at him seriously. "Yeah, I can imagine. Sorry." Darry just shrugged. "How're your brothers doin'?"

Darry closed his eyes momentarily, almost as if he were in pain. It would never get easier having to explain the situation. "They're fine," he said flatly after a small hesitation. He opened his eyes and started forward, heading for the house. He didn't have the energy to explain what had happened with his brothers. He was never really open with much of his personal business at work anyway.

Some of the guys were already starting to head up the ladder. Darry paused and watched a few of the other guys climb, Cooper included. Darry took a deep breath. He grabbed a bundle of roofing and started to reach for another before he thought better of it. Best to take it slowly, he figured. Normally he would be the first one up the ladder, or at least one of the first. Today he was among the last though. Despite everything he had done to get to this point, he still felt uneasy. Before the accident he had never even considered what could happen if anything happened to him at work. Now he knew exactly what could happen. It was a little unnerving.

He climbed the ladder slowly, placing his feet firmly on each rail before lifting himself up to the next one. He didn't glance down once. A minute later he was stepping out onto the roof of the house. He looked straight down at his feet, extra careful of his footing. He immediately moved up the roof, away from the edge. He found a spot and crouched down and began to work.

As the time went on Darry became more comfortable. He had always been good at this job and his hands clearly remembered how to do the work. It felt natural. The more he worked the more time passed. It was a nice change of pace from the mind-numbingly slow days since he had gotten out of the hospital. He was able to focus on something other than his worry for the first time in a long time. It felt good to do something physical, to work with his hands. After everything had been so out of his control for the past month, it was good to have something that he could control.

Darry didn't bother with a lunch break; he was too focused on his work. Nobody said much to him, but he didn't mind that. It wasn't like he had a strong desire to talk to anyone right now. He did his best to ignore the glances he was getting from his coworkers. All he wanted was to quietly get his work done.

It was well into the afternoon when Darry had his first incident. He had exhausted all of the work that he could do in the middle of roof. He had slowly started moving closer and closer to the edge of the roof. Eventually he was working right on the edge. He was taking deep breaths, his eyes carefully focused on the task at hand. He noticed that his hands had become less steady though. At one point his eyes strayed, looking down over the edge of the roof. He froze as his vision spun, his stomach falling. He suddenly dropped his hammer, gripping the roof for balance.

"Curtis?" Darry didn't move. Suddenly he was gasping for breath. "Curtis, you okay?" There was a hand on his shoulder and Darry looked up sharply. Cooper was crouched down next to him, looking at him with concern. "Here, sit down for a second."

With Cooper's help, Darry slowly sat back away from the edge, resting firmly on the roof. He took a couple calming breath, willing his vertigo to calm down. He had never been sensitive to heights before. Apparently he had been more affected by the accident than he had cared to admit, even to himself. He kept one hand on the roof while he carefully lifted the other hand, rubbing it across his eyes in hopes to rub some of the dizziness away.

"You okay?" Cooper repeated.

Darry sighed heavily. "Yeah, I… I think so," he murmured.

"Just take a minute," Cooper said.

Darry closed his eyes for a minute. Things were finally starting to slow down and he was feeling steadier. He opened his eyes again.

"Thanks," he said quietly, looking over at Cooper.

"Yeah, sure," Cooper told him. He paused. "You know, if you've had enough for today I'm sure boss won't mind if you head home. You've already worked most of the day after being gone for a month. That's pretty good."

Darry immediately shook his head. "No, I just need a few minutes and I'll be fine."

"You sure?" Cooper persisted. "I mean, you didn't even stop for lunch, Curtis."

"It was just a little vertigo, I'm fine," Darry insisted. He paused. He glanced back at the edge of the roof then immediately looked away again. "I guess… we're pretty high up here."

Cooper nodded. "Yeah, it's quite a ways to fall. I can't even imagine." He hesitated, looking at Darry carefully. "You were real lucky, you know. As soon as I saw you go over, I thought you were… done."

Darry took in a sharp breath at that. "Yeah… me too," he said quietly, looking down at his hands. Then he looked over at Cooper. "What happened? After I fell?" It was something he had wondered ever since he had woken up. It bothered him that he didn't remember things that had happened to him.

Cooper sighed. He sat down next to Darry. "Well you got knocked over and you kinda toppled… head first. At that angle if you hit the ground you probably woulda broken your neck. But as you fell you sorta clipped a big tree branch. It changed your angle and you landed flat on your back. Everybody panicked thinking…" He let his voice trail, but Darry knew what he meant. They all thought they had just watched him die.

"My brothers… how did they know?" he asked. He knew from Steve and Two-Bit that Soda had gotten a phone call at work from the hospital but what he couldn't put together was how the people at the hospital had figured out how to contact Soda there. He had never been very open with people at work and though they all knew about his brothers he couldn't think of one person who knew where Soda worked… then he did think of one. One coworker he had told a bit more about his life.

"Well, we called an ambulance. When they were loading you up they asked about family that they could contact. I told them about your brother who works over at the DX station on Sycamore. I told them they really needed to call him right away. I figured with how close you boys are he'd really need to know as soon as possible." He cracked a half smile. "Let me tell you, it took some work to convince them that I was givin' them a real name and not just makin' one up."

Darry laughed lightly. "Yeah, Soda gets that a lot. Pony too." He looked over at him, his face growing more serious. "Thank you," he said sincerely. He was glad that Soda was notified right away. He couldn't imagine what it would have been like if they hadn't known right away. If his brothers had had to go home to an empty house and wonder and worry about where he was or what had happened. And it was a comfort to know that his brothers had been there with him, even if he hadn't been really aware of it.

"Hey, it was the least I could do," Cooper said with a shrug. "Those guys screwing around were dumbasses. You shouldn't have been the one to get hurt."

Darry shot him a half smile, more ironic than sincere. "C'mon, we don't wanna get caught slackin' on the job," he said lightly as he slowly got to his feet. Cooper followed suit, still eyeing him uncertainly. But Darry felt steadier now.

They went back to work. Darry had no desire to go home early, and other than the vertigo he felt pretty okay. He just had to get used to the heights again. He didn't want to give up this feeling either. Sitting around the house had been driving him insane. Now it really felt like he was actually working to get his brothers back. Like with this brute physical labor somehow he would be able to bring his brothers home again. The more time he was away from them, the more determined he felt. His brothers had to come home.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note:** Okay, I am up way too late finishing this chapter up, but I really wanted to get it up before the weekend ended! Hope you like it! And I apologize if I don't get to respond every single review, it's been pretty hectic lately. But I read every single review and they definitely motivate me, so please keep it up! Thank you for all your support!

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**Chapter Fifteen**

_**Thursday, November 10**__**th**_

The day after Darry returned to work he had another meeting at social services with Ms. Daniels. It was a very uneventful meeting where Darry simply filled out paperwork. He asked about seeing his brothers again and Ms. Daniels told him that she would have to get permission from her supervisor to give out information about their whereabouts. She told him that she would call him as soon as she got the permission.

A day passed. Then another day passed. Several more days passed and Darry didn't get a phone call. He was starting to get nervous, wondering why this was taking so long. A week went by and Darry tried to call up Ms. Daniels but she was out sick that day. It was now Thursday of the following week and Darry had lost any patience he may have had. After work he rushed over to the social services office just before it closed for the day. As luck would have it, for once, when he asked for Ms. Daniels she was in the office working late.

"Hello, Darrel," Ms. Daniels said, looking up at him with a bit of surprise as he approached his desk. She shuffled through her papers and pulled out a date book, scanning it frantically for a moment as she looked a little frazzled. "Sorry, did we have an appointment today?"

Darry shook his head as he sat down across from her. "No, I just stopped by to see how the process was goin'."

"Ah," Ms. Daniels said knowingly. "I'm very sorry, but it has been a very busy week. But I did get a chance to schedule the meeting with your doctor for early next week. I still need to get a hold of your boss though."

"Yeah, he's been out this week," Darry said with a sigh, his heart sinking. "I guess there's a flu goin' around or somethin'."

"Yes, it's been going around here too," Ms. Daniels said, flashing him a sad smile. "But I promise you I am working as much as I can on your case."

Darry nodded, but he was frowning. "What about seein' my brothers?" he asked without much hope.

Ms. Daniels sighed. "My supervisor wasn't too keen on the idea when I tried to talk to him about it. He doesn't like the idea of giving out the boys' information until we're further along in the process." Darry sighed heavily and ran his hands through his hair. "I know this is difficult, Darrel, but we just need you to have patience."

"You've been saying that for weeks," Darry pointed out tiredly. "I don't think you really understand. I've never been away from my brothers. Not since they were born. Quite literally. There was the week that Pony ran away and there has been the occasional night here and there where I've stayed with friends, but other than that I have been with Ponyboy and Sodapop since the day they were each born. Even before our parents passed I helped to take care of them. And as much as they've needed me, I need them too, especially with everythin' I've been through these past few weeks." By the end Darry was practically pleading. He was at the end of his rope. All he wanted was to see his brothers. But Ms. Daniels still hesitated, looking torn. Darry sighed. "Isn't there anythin' you can tell me about them?" he implored.

"Well, let's see." Ms. Daniels turned toward a filing cabinet and pulled out one of the drawers, digging through some of her folders. She pulled one particularly thick folder out and placed it on her desk. She flipped through some of the papers. She pulled one out and read for a minute. "Sodapop is still at the boy's home as of this document from last week. He has a few notations of disciplinary issues but nothing too serious. It looks like just a few fights with some of the other boys in the home which really isn't that out of the ordinary for a boy's home unfortunately."

Darry nodded, not surprised. It didn't sound too terrible; Soda was always getting into fights when he went to school too. And it was nice to know something, however vague. "What about Pony?"

Ms. Daniels shuffled through a few more of her papers. She pulled another piece of paper out and read for a moment. "Well, he was placed in a foster home on October fourth." Darry nodded. He already knew this. "It looks like he hasn't had any major incidents…" Her voice trailed off as she scanned down to the bottom of the page. She suddenly furrowed her brow, looking confused and a little concerned.

"What is it?" Darry asked anxiously, sitting up. Clearly something wasn't right.

Ms. Daniels didn't answer right away. Instead she dug through her file again, pulling out another piece of paper. Darry felt his stomach tie itself in a knot as he watched, almost forgetting to breath. Pony was okay… right?

"Well it looks like on November third, Ponyboy was moved to a different foster home," she said slowly, her eyes still on the paper in front of her.

"Why?" Darry asked cautiously.

Ms. Daniels shook her head slowly. "It doesn't really say." She put the paper down and looked up at Darry. "It's not terribly uncommon for a family to not want to foster a child anymore. Sometimes it's just not a good fit. But…"

"But what?" Darry prompted.

"The family that Ponyboy was placed with had another foster child that had been with them for about a year before they took in Ponyboy. He was also taken out of that foster home and moved to a different home."

"What does that mean?" Darry asked slowly.

Ms. Daniels sighed. "Well, honestly, it usually indicates that there was some kind of incident with the family. That they are no longer considered fit to be foster parents."

"Why wouldn't they be considered fit anymore?" Darry questioned, an edge in his voice. He had a good guess but he didn't want to jump to conclusions.

Ms. Daniels hesitated. "There could be a number of reasons. It doesn't necessarily mean that something bad happened." But Darry could hear the doubt very clearly in her voice.

He closed his eyes for a moment, hoping to keep his emotions in check. It wouldn't do anyone any good if he flew off the handle right now. When he opened his eyes again he fought for a sense of calm. "Ms. Daniels, Pony has been through so much just in the past couple months. He was still kinda… fragile before I had my accident and still tryin' to come to terms with what happened with our friends. If somethin' happened and he doesn't even have Soda there with him…" He let the thought hang.

"I really can't…" Ms. Daniels started reluctantly, but then she seemed to rethink what she was going to say. Very abruptly she stood up. "I'm going to go get a glass of water. Would you like anything?"

Darry just stared for a moment, thrown off by the sudden shift. "Uh, no I'm fine."

Ms. Daniels nodded. "Okay, I'll be right back." She still had a piece of paper in her hand and she very deliberately set it down on her desk and then slid it closer to where Darry sat, meeting his eyes for a moment. Then she turned and walked away, disappearing around the corner of the cubical.

Darry just stared for a minute, slow to comprehend what Ms. Daniels was trying to do. He slowly reached out and pulled the paper closer to him, flipping it around to get a better look at it. It was a form about Pony's transfer to a different foster home. At the bottom was an address. He glanced around to see that the office had pretty nearly cleared out since it was the end of the day. Without thinking Darry quickly grabbed a pen off of Ms. Daniels' messy desk and then tore a blank piece of paper off of a small notepad nearby. He quickly scribbled down the address and then shoved the paper into the pocket of his jeans.

Ms. Daniels returned a few minutes later with a glass of water in her hand. She sat down and placed the glass on the desk, not paying it much attention.

"Well, Darrel, I'm sorry but there's nothing else I can do right now," she said very calmly. "That might change though after I have my meetings with your doctor and your boss. But for now I'm just going to have to ask you once again for your patience."

Darry nodded. "Okay, I understand." He stood up and gave Ms. Daniels a smile. "Thank you for your help."

"You're welcome," Ms. Daniels said, returning the smile knowingly. "I will be in touch as soon as I have any news."

They said their goodbyes and Darry walked out of the office feeling just a bit lighter than he had in weeks. Finally he had a way to get in contact with one of his brothers. He checked his watch. It was getting late. He knew that he couldn't just march over to the house where Pony was staying and bang on the door, demanding to see him. He couldn't cause any trouble that might hurt his chances of getting his brothers back. He would somehow have to catch Pony's attention outside the house.

He was lost in thought as he finally pulled up to the house. He paused after he put the truck in park in the driveway. He was still deep in thought and didn't notice the figure coming up on the side of the truck.

"Darry?"

Darry jerked violently in surprise as he turned and threw the door open. "Glory, Two-Bit, you scared the hell out of me!"

"Sorry," Two-Bit said. "You were supposed to be home like an hour ago, we were gettin' worried."

"Yeah, I made a stop," he said as he climbed out of the truck. He glanced around and saw Steve standing on the porch, leaning up against one of the supports with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Where'd you go?" Two-Bit asked curiously as they both walked up the steps of the porch.

"I stopped by social services on the way home."

"Did they say anythin' useful?" Steve asked, an edge in his voice. Social services had become a very touchy topic for him.

"Well, yeah kinda," Darry said. He couldn't help but crack a small smile. "I got the address for the foster home that Pony's at."

Two-Bit and Steve both gave at start at that, clearly surprised. "They just gave that to you?" Two-Bit asked, shock in his voice.

"Not exactly," Darry admitted. "Our social worker wasn't allowed to give out any information about them, but I think she felt sorry because she made it pretty easy for me to get the address when she walked away from her desk."

"What about Soda?" Steve asked.

Darry sighed and shook his head sadly. "She told me that he's still in the boy's home but that's about it," he admitted. "I still don't know exactly where he is. But this is better than nothin'."

"So when are you gonna go see Pony?" Two-Bit asked.

"Well, I gotta be careful about it since I'm not technically supposed to know where he is," he said slowly. "I can't just run over there and go bangin' on the door. That might hurt my chances of getting him or Soda back. I'm workin' all day tomorrow. I think it'll have to wait until Saturday. I can go over and just wait outside the house and hope to catch Pony while he comin' or goin'." He hated more than anything having to put it off, but he knew he had to be smart about this in order to not mess up his chances of things going his way in the long run.

"We can come too," Two-Bit said.

Darry shook his head. "Sorry, but I think it's better if I just go myself. It would look pretty conspicuous if a bunch of hoods suddenly showed up outside the house."

Two-Bit cracked a grin. "Who you callin' a hood?"

Darry smiled back lightly as he cuffed him upside the head. "I'm callin' you a hood, you Greaser."

They were able to joke around after that. Even Steve cracked a smile and joined in. There was a feeling of relief among them that they hadn't felt since Darry first woke up in the hospital. Finally something was going to go their way. Darry just had to get through one more day and then he'd be able to go find Ponyboy.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note:** Bam, early update! Haha. Thank you so much for all your support! A lot of the reviews I get are from guests so I can't respond, but I do appreciate all reviews! And to the guest to asked why I ended the last chapter where I did… because I'm mean! Haha. ^_^ Please continue reviewing!

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**Chapter Sixteen**

_**Saturday, November 12**__**th**_

Darry was up early on Saturday morning. He felt nervous and fidgety thinking about the day ahead. It had been over a month since he had seen either of his brothers. It was actually closer to two months by now. Seven weeks. It seemed like a lifetime. But today he was going to see his youngest brother for the first time since before his accident. Though he had to be smart about it. He couldn't get into trouble with social services. That would bring his plan to get his brothers back under his care crashing down in the blink of an eye. Soda would be kept in the boy's home for another year. Pony would be in foster care for three and a half years. The prospect was too horrible to consider.

Even though he was up early he didn't leave right away. He didn't want to appear at the house at six in the morning like a crazy person. He managed to occupy himself through most of the morning with Two-Bit and Steve's help. Finally though he was jumping into the truck and heading to where his brother was.

The trip took about forty-five minutes. Darry felt uncomfortable with how far away this foster house was from their own home. He had been hoping it would be somewhere still close to Tulsa. He slowed the truck to a stop in front of a little one-story house. It was a nice neighborhood. It wasn't to the standards of the Socs, but it was better off than their neighborhood. Clearly middle class. He doubled and then triple checked the address that he had scribbled down against the house. It was the right house, he was sure of it. This was supposed to be the house where Ponyboy had been living.

Darry had stopped the truck a few houses down from the actual house, near some trees that were planted close to the road. He got out of the truck and then hesitated. He wasn't technically supposed to be here. He wasn't supposed to even know where Pony is right now, as crazy as that sounded. He wondered if he could go up and knock on the door. Would the foster parents call social services on him? He had no idea what kind of people Pony was staying with.

He didn't have time to wonder about the consequences for long though. Suddenly there was a loud bang and Darry looked over sharply to see that the front door had been thrown open and someone was streaking down the driveway, a blur of a seasoned track runner. Darry barely had time to comprehend what was going on as Ponyboy hit him full speed, throwing his arms around him and almost knocking him down.

"Darry!" Pony cried loudly.

Darry quickly got over his shock as he squeezed Pony in to him. "Pony," he gasped. He could hardly believe that after all this time his brother was finally right here with him. They stayed like that for a long time, just holding each other. Darry could feel Pony trembling under his arms and as he looked down he could see that he was crying openly, sobs wracking through him as his tears soaked into Darry's t-shirt. "Pony, what is it?" Of course he was indescribably happy to finally see Pony, but it seemed like there was something else causing so much emotion in his little brother.

Pony pulled back slightly in order to look up at him, clearly trying to fight for some composure. "I… I-I thought…" he stammered.

"You thought I'd abandoned you?" Darry guessed gently. "I'd never do that Pony."

Pony shook his head. "No," he said. He took a deep breath. "I thought you were gone."

Darry gave a start. That was the last thing he expected. It took him a moment to find his voice in order to respond. "Why would you think that?"

"I kept on askin' about you, but everyone always said they didn't know anythin'," he said. "And the doctor had told us that you… might not wake up." He sniffed miserably.

Darry pulled Pony back in closer to him, feeling shocked. How could Pony not know that he was okay? It didn't make any sense. He had been out of the hospital for almost a month now and he had been awake from his coma for longer than that. He had been working to get his brothers back ever since he first woke up. And no one told them?

"I'm sorry, Pony," Darry murmured. "I didn't know that you didn't know. I just figured they'd tell you."

"Have you heard anythin' from Soda?" Pony asked hopefully, looking up at him.

Darry shook his head sadly. "No, I haven't. I guess he's still in the boy's home and it's real hard to get visitors there." Pony nodded lightly, though he looked distressed at the news. He took a step backwards and started to raise his right hand to wipe the excess tears away but stopped suddenly and switched to his left hand instead. And Darry could see why as his stomach plummeted. "Pony… what happened?"

Pony looked down at his right hand. There was a thick white cast that wound around the palm of his hand and then reached up almost to his elbow. "I… broke my wrist," he said quietly.

"How did you break your wrist? How bad is it?" Darry asked quickly. His eyes were searching Pony's face, but Pony wouldn't look up at him.

"It's not bad," Pony said vaguely. "They said I should get the cast off in a few weeks."

Darry waited for more, but Pony was quiet. "How'd it happen?" he asked again, gently.

"I fell off the porch at the other foster house," Pony said. The line sounded suspiciously rehearsed to Darry and he still refused to look up at him.

"C'mere," he said as he led Pony a little ways away from the house, sitting down on the curb in front of the truck. "Pony, tell me what happened. I know you were at another foster home and I know you and another foster kid got moved because the family wasn't considered fit guardians anymore."

Pony stared down at the cast, a faraway look in his eyes. As Darry watched him he couldn't help but remember how much Pony loved to draw. There were pages and pages featuring his drawings tacked up all around him bedroom at home. And now he wouldn't be able to draw until he got that cast off. It was just one more small thing that made this whole situation that much more unfair.

"It was my fault," Pony finally said. Darry waited patiently for further explanation even though he strongly doubted the statement. "The Millers didn't like that I smoked. They said I stunk up the house and wanted me to quit. But it was hard to quit. So I kept smokin' but I tried to hide it." He paused and took a deep breath. "I went out onto the porch to smoke. The Millers were inside but they never paid much attention to me. After a while Matthew came out. He was the other foster kid, I think he was like eleven or somethin'. But he wanted a cigarette. So I gave him one." He shrugged. "I didn't think it'd be a big deal as long as he didn't get caught."

"What happened after that?" Darry prompted carefully, not liking where this was going.

"Well, Mr. Miller came out and caught us," Pony said quietly. "He got… mad. He went after Matthew but it was my fault so I tried to get between them. That's when he grabbed me and kinda… threw me. And I fell off the porch onto my wrist."

"Pony, that wasn't your fault," Darry said evenly. "Look at me." Pony reluctantly lifted his head and look up at him, pain in his eyes. It caused Darry's stomach to twist. "Even if Mr. Miller was angry, that's not the way you treat kids in your care." He paused, contemplating his next question carefully. "Was that the first time he had laid his hands on you, Pony?"

Pony hesitated and bit his lip and at the sight Darry felt his heart fall, not needing any more answer than that. Suddenly he was regretting not looking for the address of the original foster home on that form he had seen at social services. Then he could go to that house and beat that guy's face in for ever laying a hand on his brother.

"How many times did he hurt you?" Darry asked slowly, dreading the answer.

Pony hesitated and then shrugged one shoulder. His gaze fell back down to the cast that was cradled in his lap. "I don't know. He'd come home drunk some nights after work and he'd fight with his wife. After she locked herself in her bedroom he'd come after me and Matthew sometimes."

"How would he come after you?" Pony was quiet for a minute. "Pony, I need to know."

Silently Pony leaned forward and pulled up the back of the long sleeved shirt that he was wearing. Darry leaned over and helped him pull it up farther, taking a good look at his bare back. He had to hold back a gasp. There were fading bruises and welts all along his little brother's back.

"When they took me to the hospital for my wrist one of the nurses saw these," Pony said softly. "Told social services about it."

Darry sighed as he pulled Pony's shirt back down, feeling sick. He glanced back at the house behind them, the one Pony was currently living in. "What about these people? Have they hurt you at all?"

Pony shook his head. "No, they seem okay," he said without much enthusiasm.

Darry nodded. "If they do ever hurt you at all, you call me, you hear? I don't care what the state says, I'll come get you myself. Okay?"

Pony nodded. Then he looked up at Darry. "Darry… when can I come home?"

"I'm workin' on it, kiddo," he assured him gently. "I've been workin' on it ever since I woke up in the hospital. But now that I'm back at work and everythin' things should start movin' quicker. So hopefully in the next couple weeks you and Soda will both be home again."

Pony nodded. "Maybe by Thanksgiving?" he asked hopefully.

Darry smiled. "Yeah, hopefully by Thanksgiving." He reached over and grasped Pony's shoulder gently.

"And you're gonna see Soda soon?" he asked, looking up at Darry with anxiety in his eyes.

Darry looked down at his brother, his expression guarded. Something in the way that Pony had asked combined with the anxiety in his features gave him the idea that something more was bothering Pony. "Of course," he said slowly. "I'm gonna try and see him as soon as I possibly can." Pony nodded and then looked back down at his cast, frowning. "Pony… what's botherin' you?"

Pony sighed and picked at some grass with his non-injured hand. "I'm just… worried about him there."

"Did somethin' happen?" Darry guessed, though dreading the answer. Suddenly he had a very bad feeling, even more so than he did before.

Pony glanced up at him briefly as he shifted uncomfortably. "It's just the other boys there weren't very… nice."

Darry nodded. "Yeah I've heard things about that place. It's where all the troubled kids get left."

"It's bad there, Darry," Pony said quietly. "You can't leave Soda there."

"Hey, no one's gettin' left anywhere," Darry said firmly. "I ain't leavin' Soda in the boy's home and I ain't leavin' you in foster care. This is gonna get fixed, Pony. You and Soda will be back home soon, I promise."

Pony nodded then gave him a strained smile.

They talked for a while. Then they just sat and enjoyed each other's company for a while. Eventually though it was time for Darry to leave. He was worried that Pony's foster parents might come out looking for him. Though he was a little suspicious as to why they hadn't yet. Pony was less thrilled to see him go than he was. But he promised to come back and see him the next week. He hoped that he would have some better news for Pony by that time.

After watching Pony go back into the house of strangers, Darry grudgingly climbed back into his truck. Although he was ecstatic to have finally gotten to see Pony and spend some time with him, he found that it made it that much harder to drive back to that all too empty house in Tulsa. Also the way Pony had reacted to the mention of the boy's home had made Darry more worried about Soda. He hoped that he'd be able to convince social services to let him see him soon. But in the meantime he would have to continue to fight to keep his promise to Ponyboy. He was going to bring his brothers home.

XxXxX

Pony stood in the window of the house, watching as Darry's truck rumbled to life and then began rolling down the street. He kept watching until it had disappeared around the corner and even stared after it for several more minutes, as if hoping that Darry might turn around and come back to get him. But he knew that wasn't going to happen.

It had been amazing when Pony had seen Darry's truck in front of the house that morning. He had been sitting up in his room when he had heard the old truck groaning down the street. There were very few cars in this neighborhood that sounded like that. A lot of the cars were newer since it was more of a middle class neighborhood. He had rushed to the window as he had done many times before when he thought he heard something familiar, though he hadn't expected much. When he recognized the truck – he'd recognize that truck anywhere – he had frozen in shock, unable to react for several minutes. Then he had watched Darry climb down from the vehicle. For a moment he had been convinced that he was dreaming. One minute he was sure that Darry was either still laying unconscious in a hospital bed or had already passed and no one would tell him. And in the next moment he was looking right at him, healthy and whole just like he had always been. It wasn't until Pony had run out of the house and been able to throw his arms around Darry and feel his big brother hugging him close that he was able to really believe that this was real.

Pony looked down at the cast on his arm. It had been a low point for him when that happened. He had been convinced that this would be his life from now on. But now there was hope. Maybe he really would go home again.

He vividly remembered the day that his arm had been broken.

_Pony was just showing Matthew how to light up his cigarette, inhaling off the stick as the flame from the lighter lit the other end. Matthew was having some trouble with it so Pony handed over his own already lit cigarette and lit the new one himself. He could remember Johnny lighting his cigarettes for him when he first started smoking before he got the hang of lighting them himself. _

_The door had banged open loudly and they had both jumped. Matthew was so frightened that he dropped his cigarette on the porch. Instinctually Pony stepped on it to smother it. He had been extra carefully about putting out his cigarettes ever since the fire at the old church some months ago. _

"_What are you two doin'?" Mr. Miller had demanded, looking between the two. Suddenly he focused on Matthew, who immediately shrunk back away from him. "What d'you think _you're_ doin'?!" he roared at the child. _

"_It was my fault—" Pony started, but he was cut off._

"_I'll deal with you later," Mr. Miller had growled at him. He turned back to Matthew and began advancing on him and the boy backed up, beginning to tremble. "You should know better. After everything we've done for you, this is how you repay us?"_

_Matthew simply whimpered quietly. Pony couldn't just sit and watch this. He was the one who had given Matthew the cigarette in the first place. Despite his better judgment he hurried forward, putting himself between Matthew and Mr. Miller. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have given it to him, I really didn't—" Once against he didn't get to finish._

"_I said I'll deal with you later!" Mr. Miller had shouted. He grabbed Pony by the shoulders. He was much bigger and stronger than the fourteen-year-old. He threw Pony hard away from him and Matthew. There wasn't a railing around the porch so there was nothing to stop Pony from falling hard several feet to the ground below. Out of pure instinct he had thrown out his arm to try and catch himself. The pain had shot up his entire arm and he had cried out loudly as he immediately rolled off the arm he had landed on, blinking hard against the tears that tried desperately to overflow. _

"_What's going on?" Suddenly Mrs. Miller was on the porch, looking around with much less concern than she should have had given Pony's pained yells just moments before. She took in the scene and they looked at her husband, glaring slightly. "What did you do?"_

_Mr. Miller shrugged. "Kid fell."_

"_And I'm sure you had nothing to do with it," Mrs. Miller said, rolling her eyes. She sounded mildly annoyed. "I _told_ you fostering another child was a bad idea."_

"_Hey, it's another paycheck," Mr. Miller had shot back automatically. _

_Pony watched the scene from where he lay out the ground, cradling his injured arm up against him, doing his best not to move it at all. Moving it only caused excruciating pain. _

"_Well, get up," Mrs. Miller said, looking down at Pony. She sounded tired. "Come back inside and get cleaned up."_

"_My arm's broken!" Pony had practically shouted. He was still fighting hard against tears but he knew that his features were screwed up in pain. _

"_Quit bein' dramatic," Mr. Miller had said. He walked down off the porch and Pony tried to shrink away from him, but he could hardly move at all because of the pain. Mr. Miller grabbed him by his uninjured arm and dragged him to his feet and Pony couldn't help but cry out as he clutched his hurt arm close to him. "Shut up, it ain't that bad."_

_Mrs. Miller had walked to the edge of the porch and had looked down at them curiously. "You know, I think his arm actually might be broken."_

"_Shut your trap, stupid woman!" Mr. Miller had spat. _

_Mrs. Miller glared at him. "You're the one who pushed him off the porch, Henry!" she shot back. "Now you have to take him to the hospital."_

"_I ain't takin' someone else's kid to the hospital!" _

"_Oh, that'll look real good when the social worker comes to check up on him and his arm is healed at a right angle," Mrs. Miller had said sarcastically. She turned. "Do what you want. I'm going to start on dinner."_

Mr. Miller had made Pony sit all through dinner with his injury before he finally grudgingly admitted that maybe Pony wasn't faking it. It had been an agonizing evening. The fact that one of the nurses at the hospital had taken an interest in him had seemed like a miracle because he had no idea how he would have gone back to that place. He had hoped they would take him back to the boy's home and back to Soda. But instead they had simply moved him to a different foster home, put him with a different family that he didn't know. It hadn't seemed like much of a solution to Pony.

Pony sighed and rested his head against the cool glass of the window in front of him. He closed his eyes, picturing Darry's face. Darry was going to fix this, he told himself. Darry was always able to fix everything. As long as he had Darry he knew that everything was going to be okay. And at that thought he smiled lightly to himself. Because he really believed it.


End file.
